OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #160, JANUARY
17, 2024 .
I
CHRISTIAN
SORENSEN.
UNDERSTANDING THE WAR INDUSTRY. Clarity
P, 2020. (Clarity is one of the best
publishing companies in the world for exposing abuse of power.)
The War Industry
infests the American economy like a cancer, sapping its strength and distorting
its creativity while devouring its treasure.
Stunning in the
depth of its research, Understanding the War Industry documents
how the war industry commands the other two sides of the military-industrial-congressional triangle.
It lays bare the multiple levers enabling the vast and proliferating war
industry to wield undue influence, exploiting financial and legal structures,
while co-opting Congress, academia and the media. Spiked with insights into how
corporate boardrooms view the troops, overseas bases, and warzones, it
assiduously delineates how corporations reap enormous profits by providing a
myriad of goods and services devoted to making war, which must be rationalized
and used if the game is to go on: advanced weaponry, drones and nukes;
invasive information technology; space-based weapons; and special
operations—with contracts stuffed with ongoing and proliferating developmental,
tertiary and maintenance products for all of it.
“To an
ever-increasing extent, the business of America is the business of war. But
although Americans live in the shadow of a war economy, few understand the full
extent of its power and influence. Thanks to Christian Sorensen’s deeply
researched book into the military-industrial complex that envelops our society,
such ignorance can no longer be an excuse.” —ANDREW
COCKBURN, author of Kill Chain: The Rise of the High Tech Assassins.
“A devastating
account of American militarism, brilliantly depicted, and exhaustively
researched in an authoritative manner. Sorensen’s book is urgent, fascinating
reading for anyone who wants to save the country and the world from political,
economic, and ecological disaster. Its message is so convincingly delivered
that it will change many open minds forever and for the better.” —RICHARD
FALK, International Lawyer
“Have you ever wondered why the United States is always at war? This
meticulously researched book lays out in painstaking detail exactly how our
nation has been captured by a war industry that profits from endless conflict
and pursues profit at all costs. It will shock you, infuriate you, and hopefully
inspire you to help dismantle the grotesque killing machine that steals our
resources, wreaks havoc around the world, and leaves the merchants of death
laughing all the way to the bank.” — MEDEA BENJAMIN,
codirector, CODEPINK for Peace
“I’m adding
Christian Sorensen’s new book, Understanding the War Industry ,
to the list of books I think will convince you to help abolish war and
militaries… [It is] not so much analysis as an effort to persuade through the
repetition of examples, countless examples, naming names and laid out over
hundreds of pages. The author admits that he’s only scratching the surface. But
he’s scratching it in lots of different places, and the result ought to be
persuasive for most people”—DAVID SWANSON, World
Beyond War
“Christian Sorensen
is the Seymour Melman of the 21st century, dissecting the
military-industrial-congressional complex and providing us a way to understand
this convoluted machine which exploits and oppresses the entire world…” —WILL
GRIFFIN, founder and director of The Peace Report.
“It has long been
obvious that America’s numerous, hugely expensive, and destructive and
seemingly perpetual wars of choice have not been intended to serve any
interests of the vast majority of the American people. In Understanding
the War Industry, Christian Sorensen presents detailed and thoroughly
documented evidence to convincingly support his conviction that the dominant
force among those seeking war for the sake of war is the pursuit of profit
maximization by the corporate “war industry”. He concludes: “There will be no escape
from interminable wars until this reality is recognized and resisted.” This
book offers a major contribution to that struggle.”— JOHN V. WHITBECK, International Laywer