The Great Capitalist Peace Doesn’t Stand Up To War Profiteering

I think that the idea of “The Great Capitalist Peace” is both unattainable and foolish. When you think capitalism, you don’t think world peace—you think money. The main goal of capitalism is to make as much money as you can, any way you can. And there are lots of ways to make money, such as opening your own restaurant or getting a job with a software company. I think we can all agree those are innocent enough, right? But there is something else more ominous that has shown its potential to be a lucrative enterprise: war. If there are huge amounts of profit to be made off war, it would be in the best interest of capitalists to encourage war. Just look at Iraq. In the first 11 days of the 2003 Iraq War, the Navy fired 700 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Iraq (Borger), a missile that costs about $500,000 each (“BGM-109 Tomahawk”).

Do the math—that’s $350,000,000 worth of cruise missiles.

If you were the CEO of Raytheon or McDonnell Douglas, the two companies that manufacture the Tomahawk, might you not be, dare I say, excited for this war?

Many defense companies have profited enormously from the death and destruction caused by the Iraq War. The defense industry has enjoyed “a contracting free-for-all” and little governmental oversight, with defense contracts totaling $269 billion in 2005 (“Cracking Down”). Among the top offenders are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, KBR, Halliburton, General Electric, Bechtel, CSC/DynCorp, and Blackwater. These companies have committed a variety of crimes, ranging from Halliburton and KBR’s providing troops with contaminated water and spoiled food to Blackwater’s use of excessive force in Iraq. Thanks to the widespread cronyism and corruption within the current administration—such as Gordon England, former Secretary of the Navy and current Deputy Secretary of Defense (even though he has no military experience), a former executive for General Dynamics, and Vice President Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton—it is very easy for these companies to get away with their crimes. If you are not only the former executive of a defense company but also in the government and in a position to push for a war, wouldn’t you be tempted? Like I said before, if you were the CEO of Raytheon or McDonnell Douglas, wouldn’t you be eager for this war?

Defense contractor Brent Wilkes was. In fact, according to several of his former colleagues, he wasn’t just eager, but “ecstatic” and “gung-ho” about the Iraq war and the “new opportunities it would create for the company” (Calbreath)—so much that he used his friendship with former CIA Executive Director Kyle Foggo to land an Iraq contract to deliver $1.7 million worth of bottled water and other supplies to CIA operatives in Iraq and bribed former Representative Randy Cunningham to obtain further contracts from the Defense Department, for which he was convicted of 13 felonies, including conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering (Moran).

Last time I checked, being eager for a war because of the new opportunities it would create for the company didn’t translate into any sort of peace, let alone the “Great Capitalist” one.

-Gregory Proulx

Further Information:

Presenting Arms: The Iraq War & The U.S. Weapons Industry

CorpWatch: War Profiteers

IRAQ FOR SALE: The War Profiteers

US Labor Against the War

Works Cited

“BGM-109 Tomahawk.” Federation of American Scientists. 1 Dec. 2005. 10 Dec. 2007 <http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/bgm-109.htm>.

Borger, Julian. “Air War Weapon Stockpile Runs Critically Low.” Guardian Unlimited 1 Apr. 2003. 10 Dec. 2007 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,926996,00.html>.

Calbreath, Dean. “Case Shines Light on How War Contracts are Awarded.” The San Diego Union-Tribune 15 Feb. 2007. 10 Dec. 2007 <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070215-9999-1n15contract.html>.

“Cracking Down on War Profiteering: Contracting Free-for-All.” Center for Corporate Policy. 10 Dec. 2007 <http://www.corporatepolicy.org/topics/warprofiteering.htm>.

Moran, Greg. “Jury Finds Wilkes Guilty.” The San Diego Union-Tribune 6 Nov. 2007. 10 Dec. 2007 <http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071106/news_1n6wilkes.html>.

The Great Capitalist Peace

The Great Capitalist Peace is an ideal that can never be achieved in reality due to the fallen nature of mankind. Lieven and Hulsman contrast the philosophy of the Great Capitalist Peace with the philosophy of the Democratic Peace which states that if all nations were democracies war would cease to exist. I think their emphasis on economics, rather than on political structures is important because democracies are not all the same and they have fought each other in the past. However, the Great Capitalist Peace emphasizes that if all nations share in the global economy they will be less likely to go to war. This is more feasible than the argument about democracies, though it is a goal that can never be obtained. Humanity is naturally flawed and constantly seeks greater and greater advantages at the expense of others. Therefore nations, composed of humans seek conflict with their enemies to achieve the goals for which they strive. Not all nations would voluntarily agree to such economic conditions and even if they did this will not lead ultimately to universal peace. Just because economic connections provide a disincentive for nations to go to war with one another that does not mean that such economic interconnectedness will eliminate conflict altogether.
While it is a noble goal the Great Capitalist Peace is an ideal that simply can never be achieved. This is because universal peace is not possible no matter the mechanism used to achieve it. While I believe that the Great Capitalist Peace, in which all people have a stake in the international economy, is the best hope at eliminating conflict to a certain extent. When all people have a stake in the global economy they will be less likely to jeopardize that prosperity through conflict and a relative peace will result. However, in certain situations the desire for conflict will exceed the desire to maintain trade relations and the nation will be willing to sacrifice its economic success for military struggle in hopes that it will obtain even greater success. Subsequently the Great Capitalist Peace will fail to eliminate all conflict.