Customer Reviews:
 Down With The Military-Industrial Complex ! July 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In a scathing examination of the bloated defense contracting industry, journalist Scheer exposes how the military-industrial complex manufactures and acquires advanced weaponry that has nothing to do with America's defense needs. Not only does the bloated "defense" budget entail untold waste and opportunity cost -- about 60% of each tax dollar goes for "defense," while more easily funded domestic priorities go unaddressed -- but the acquisition of this unnecessary military hardware, originally intended to defeat a Cold War foe that no longer exists, even drives our military and foreign policy decisionmaking. Scheer shows that this waste often takes the form of "pork" that Congress members are loath to relinquish. Scheer has fittingly dedicated this book to a Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, whose warnings about the "military-industrial complex" have proven prescient. An excellent, in-depth examination of an important issue that neither party seems to want to tackle.
Hogs Gone Wild July 2, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Give this man a medal. I could not put this book down even though I have read my share of sometimes tepid post 9-11 books. Bob has been bringing us the truth for years and in this book has presented a clear case of the betrayal by those who we have entrusted to lead. His past experience on the political scene has given him a unique ability to weave a unique perspective brimming with clarity.
When Wall Street and K street are the primary architects and beneficiaries of a governmental welfare policy guess who pays for this? Our children and future generations will be paying for this massive rip-off. It is time to close the revolving door of government officials to the military industrial complex and back. Canada has proposed a 5 year freeze on all government top employees to work for private business in the field they were responsible or had policy input for. Some would disagree on such a measure as an infringement of their right to steal from us. Who will be the first candidate to express a truly revolutionary idea such as banning corporate participation and ban all corporate financial input in the electoral process? '' We have met the enemy and he is us'' Walt Kelly never rang truer.
A new and persuasive warning against the "military-industrial complex" June 30, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Robert Scheer's The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America, takes as its thesis President Eisenhower's warning against the "military-industrial complex" on his retirement from the presidency and provides succinct analyses of how, particularly in the eight presidential years of Bush II, Eisenhower's worst fears have been realized. Scheer generously acknowledges that Bush, Cheney and the defense hawks may believe otherwise, but he leaves no doubt that America's war in Iraq, like so much of its foreign relations, is motivated not by the nation's defense, the spread of democracy or resistance to tyranny, but by the desire for power and profit.
Scheer has documented how the close relationship between the defense industry and the Defense Department has resulted in many billions of dollars in contracts to build weapons for which there can be no rationale use in a war against terrorist forces that do not control large armies or navies. He spells out how individuals move from high positions in private weapons corporations to high positions in government that contract to buy those weapons, and then move back to higher positions, and back again to the highest government posts, making ever greater profits for the weapons makers and themselves. The Pornography of Power is a frighteningly persuasive account of their success in creating a wartime environment without end and without real war, but at a terrible cost to America's ability to respond to crises in economic opportunity, health care, education, and infrastructure repair, none of which can be confronted as long as literally trillions of dollars are wasted in a false pursuit of national security.
 Provocative, literate, a great read June 26, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Being a big fan of NPR's Left, Right and Center, this book was something I was quite eager to read. Possibly the biggest compliment I can pay is that despite my political views tending somewhat towards the right of Mr. Scheer, I found the book to be an engaging, thoughtful treatise, one that offers a wide critique on the geopolitical situation instead of just another anti-Bush diatribe. Some of the most pointed barbs are aptly directed at Democrats, including Barbara Boxer. This is not partisan hackery; no one is immune from Scheer's critique. What's more, the book is anything but dry. It's written with an enjoyable, conversational tone, but backed by strong scholarship.
Though I often disagree with Mr. Scheer's positions, I regard this book as the work of a fiercely intelligent thinker, a patriot who clearly believes in this country's ability to do better. A must-read.
The High Cost of Neocon Porn June 22, 2008
29 out of 29 found this review helpful
Robert Scheer's powerful new book, The Pornography of Power (How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America), examines what happened after an inattentive and largely apolitical public, led by a poorly prepared, intellectually insecure, and petulant president was confronted by deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It's a frightening story, but it is crisply told, well researched, and convincing. After decades of incisive investigative reporting, including extensive interviews with five presidents, Scheer is unrivaled in his ability to explain the complex interactions that have created this perfect (political) storm.
As Scheer tells it, the Cold War probably began to unravel with Richard Nixon's policy of detente, but the definitive end had to wait until the disappearance of the Soviet enemy. Unfortunately, what was seen as an opportunity for most was perceived as a disaster by others, especially defense executives and neocon ideologues. No Cold War meant no superpower enemy and that meant the end of unlimited military spending. Then came 9/11 and, as Scheer observes, unlimited military spending was back stronger than ever. Thus the focus of the book: the unlikely and illogical linkage between terrorist attacks accomplished by hijacking commercial airliners with box-cutters and annual military spending that has exceeded that spent during the Cold War.
In the aftermath of 9/11 the neocons were ready with a fully developed theory for a 21st century Pax Americana. They had a fully developed answer for whatever problems Bush saw emerging in the wake of 9/11. Scheer meticulously lays out how Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Perle "went to work on an untutored president." Their agenda had clearly been laid out in the 1997 founding statement of the Project for a New American Century which, as Scheer illustrates, was to boost military spending to create a world "favorable to American interests." At its center were plans for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Never mind that there was no connection between Hussein and al Qaeda.
Scheer's convincing evidence demonstrates that little attempt was made, by Bush and company, to identify the nature of the problem presented by the attacks on 9/11. Instead, the President and his neocon advisors used 9/11 as justification for "solutions" that featured expensive weapons originally meant to counteract technical advances by the old Soviet Union. If you wonder why the United States continues to build the F-22 Raptor (at $65 billion) or the F-35 joint fighter (at $300 billion) Scheer explains in precise detail. Never mind that the terrorists have no air force. Never mind that the F-16 flys perfectly well. If you wonder why the Congress has funded new Virginia class submarines (at $2.5 billion each) to fight terrorists who don't have a navy Scheer makes it distressingly clear.
But the executive branch cannot spend all this money without congressional approval and, from the beginning, congress was cooperative. A critical mass of Republicans and Democrats alike are shown to be open to the influence of the likes of Lockheed, Halliburton and Boeing. Such influence, Scheer shows, does not stem from campaign contributions alone, but from the promise of jobs. It is not for nothing that the various facets of military production are spread into as many congressional districts as possible. All of this, the author concludes, is "proof that when it comes to the defense budget, there is bipartisan support for endless waste."
Gore Vidal once observed that the United States is no longer a "serious country." What he meant is that we have become a nation with little sense of our own past and with little commitment to political discourse. What one learns from The Pornography of Power is that such apathy comes at a price. That price is an American foreign policy that has become little more than the search for new enemies.
The Pornography of Power is a compelling investigation into senseless war, greed, congressional pork, neocons, neoliberals, and seemingly limitless debt. It is the story of a republic turned empire. But underlying Scheer's reporting is a conviction that it doesn't have to be this way. Understanding is the first step and he clearly lays out, for all willing to read, what is driving trillions of dollars in illogical and unnecessary spending for Bush's global war on terror.
This is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future, or who wonders why we can't take care of our sick, repair our bridges, or fix our schools. Buy this book, read it, and find a way to discuss it with your friends and neighbors.
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