Cross-posted with TomDispatch.comLets skip the obvious. Leave aside, for instance, the way Donald Trumps decision to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against a Syrian airbase is but another example of what we already know: that acts of war are now the prerogative, and only the prerogative, of the president (or of military commanders whom Trump has given greater authority to act on their own). Checks, balances' I doubt either of them applies anymore when it comes to war, American-style. These days, the only checks written are to the Pentagon and balance isnt a concept outside of gymnastics.Meanwhile, Donald Trump has learned that every wild defeat at home, every swirling palace intrigue that would make a tsar blush, can be... well, trumped by dumping 59 cruise missiles or their equivalent in some distant land to save the beautiful babies. (Forget the babies his generals have been killing.) Launch the missiles, send in the raiders, dispatch the planes, and youll get everyone you ever tweet-smashed ' including Hillary, John, Nancy, Marco, and Chuck to applaud you and praise your acts. Theyll be joined by the official right wing (though not the unofficial one), while the neocons and their pals will hail you as the Churchill of the twenty-first century. Or at least, all of this will be true until ' consult George W. Bush and Barack Obama on this ' it isnt; until the day after; until, you know, the moment weve experienced over and over during the last 15 years of American war-making, the one where it suddenly becomes clear (yet again) that things are going really, really wrong.The only checks written are to the Pentagon and 'balance' isn't a concept outside of gymnastics. While we wait, heres a suggestion that came to mind as I read What Does an America-First Foreign Policy Really Mean' ' the latest thoughts of retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William Astore on the military-industrial complex in the age of Trump: Isnt it time to give the corporate sponsorship of war its just due' After all, theres hardly an object, building, museum, stadium, or event in civilian life these days that doesnt have corporate sponsorship plastered all over it and built into it. In my hometown, for instance, baseballs New York Mets play at Citi Field, while footballs Giants and Jets spend their seasons at MetLife Stadium. Given the role that Americas giant weapons makers play in our wars, and the stunningly successful way they spread their wares around the planet, isnt it time for the growing war powers of the commander-in-chief to be translated into a militarized version of sponsorship'Shouldnt Raytheon, the maker of those 59 cruise missiles that Donald Trump used recently, be given full credit so that media coverage of the event would refer to the Raytheon Syrian Tomahawk Chop' Shouldnt the next set of drone attacks in Yemen be called the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper Harvesting' Shouldnt any future strikes by the most expensive weapons system on this or any other planet be labeled the Lockheed F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter Storm' Were in a new age of corporate enhancement. Isnt it time for war to adjust and for the military-industrial complex to get the credit it so richly deserves' -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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