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“I spent 33 years and 4 months in active military service . . . And during that period I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

Thus, I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.

I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927, I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.

Our boys were sent off to die with beautiful ideals painted in front of them. No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason they were marching off to kill and die.”
General Smedley Butler
“There are only two things we should fight for. One is defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights.”
General Smedley Butler
tags: fight

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War is a Racket: The Anti-War Classic by General Smedley Butler — Exposing the Business Behind War, Corruption, and Profit War is a Racket
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War is a Racket: The Shocking Truth About War, Greed, and Power — From One of America’s Most Decorated Marines War is a Racket
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