the crazy war racket

Filling military quotas with the mentally ill
The [U.S.] Army very quietly announced in August that it will lift a ban on waivers allowing people with a history of mental health issues, as well as alcohol and drug abuse, to join their ranks.

In the comments section of the above Washington Times article, Jeff77450 says:

• It says something bad about America's men who are straight and not mentally-ill that they don't want to serve and therefore all these defectives have to be recruited.

Nah, Jeff -  it says something good about them. As we've heard a thousand times, yet still don't quite get: if everybody refused to join up, the crazy, blood-thirsty politicians would have to fight their own battles.

People willing to die for their country have been brainwashed since kindergarten. In fact, all country anthems are calls to war wrapped up in love and obedience:

• Canada: We stand on guard for thee
• America: And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
• China: Braving the enemies' fire! March on!
• France: To arms, citizens, Form your battalions, Let's march, let's march!
• Britain: Scatter our enemies, And make them fall!

Propaganda and fear mongering are essential to the lucrative (for some) war industry. Just hold a seance and ask Samuel Prescott Bush, influential member of not only the War Industries Board but also the Federal Reserve Bank. He was, of course, the patriarch of the two Georges.

• With the war mobilization conducted under the supervision of the War Industries Board unprecedented fortunes fell upon war producers and certain holders of raw materials and patents.

No sane human wants to die in the muck of a war. So, to entice recruitment for WWI, the War Industries Board held out the prospect of cash bonuses, but were later told that the promissory notes couldn't be cashed until 1945 (the original act made the bonuses initially due no earlier than 1925 and no later than 1945), despite the fact that when the war was over there were no jobs to be had.

Times continued to be so hard that in 1932 the veterans turned out en masse to demand their bonuses. And here's how they were responded to:

• U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the Army to clear the veterans' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.

In 1933, Major General Smedly Butler (better late than never) came out against the "Business Plot" and subsequently wrote a short book entitled: War is a Racket, wherein he exposed the influence of big business in pushing for WWI.

He was of course, considered a "conspiracy theorist".

But the bonus lure/retraction is still operating: Pentagon demands return of cash bonuses paid to California soldiers for going to war a decade ago

• The Times reported that 48-year-old Army sergeant Robert Richmond, who suffered permanent injuries in an Iraq roadside bomb attack, is refusing to repay his $15,000 cash bonus. The Army contends he was ineligible to receive the bonus in 2006 because he had already served 20 years in the Army.

As for Canada's role in "peace keeping", $15M has been "committed to recruit and promote women in military and police", although apparently there's a whole contingent of young peace-keeper Muslim women that the UN isn't sure yet how to employ. Nevertheless, to encourage countries to put forward their women, the old "financial incentive" trick is being bandied about again.

• Pablo Castillo Diaz, a policy expert at UN Women, is credited with coming up with the idea of using money to nudge countries. ''Why not use financial incentives?'' says Castillo Diaz. ''This is one of the most successful policy tools in any area of work.''

As we saw earlier, yes, it will probably work to entice recruitment when no other employment can be found, but offering and actually paying have a sad history of being two different things.

In keeping with my previous screed on the connection between war and rape:

• ''It also bears noting that not a single female peacekeeper has ever been accused of sexual exploitation and abuse on mission'' the study said. For years the UN has been grappling with accusations of child rape and other abuses by its blue helmets.

More federal blarney: Canada offers helicopters, planes, trainers to UN, but no decision on where

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