Jackie Allison has submitted this article on how the Iran War and all wars are rackets.
“War is a racket,” said Major General Smedley Darlington Butler USMC (1881-1940) in the book of the same name. Major General Butler received many outstanding medals and commendations during his years of military service including two Medals of Honor.
The man knew war. He knew war was a way to provide the few with extraordinary profits at high costs to those who served their country in the military and to the average citizens.
He cited examples of these profits/costs’ margins during the First World War. In the years 1910-1914, the du Pont’s profit was six million dollars a year (today’s equivalent 200 million), a tidy sum. Their average yearly profit from 1914-1918 jumped to fifty-eight million a year (1.95 billion today), nearly ten times that of normal times, an approximate 950 percent jump.
Today’s Wars
War is a racket. Today, we need but look at Lockheed Martin (up by 37% by early March 2026), RTX (formerly Raytheon, up 110%), Northrop Grumman (up 60%), and General Dynamics (up 57%) to see who profits from war. Russia (possibly 5 billion) and China also stand to profit as does Total Energies, BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil, up to 30 billion in shareholders’ gain.
Meanwhile, fuel, energy, and food prices have risen. Inflation is projected to average 4.2%. The average American can’t boast a rise of 37% to 110% in income.
War is a racket. Who pays for these profits? We all pay them with our taxes, OUR taxes, not the taxes on wealth. The wealthy receive breaks which allow them to accrue more profit.
The soldier pays the largest sum, many times with their life. Major General Butler visited the hospitals and the cemeteries. His first hand reports spoke of the physically and mentally destroyed people who languished in hospitals and of those awarded headstones.
In his book, War is a Racket; Major General Butler cited three steps to stop war:
- Take the profit out of war.
- Permit those who would take up arms decide whether there should be war.
- Limit military forces to home defense.
War is a racket. Not considered is the cost to our environment. The first 14 days of the assault on Iran produced approximately 5 million tons of carbon dioxide. This was greater than Iceland’s total climate pollution in 2024. From this point of view, all Earth’s inhabitants lose to war.
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