dana west
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Message #114534 posted by dana west (Info) May 13, 2008 02:26:01 ET
The Real Matrix
The Pentagon Invades Your Life
by Nick Turse
4/25/2008
Rick is a midlevel manager in a financial services company in New York City.
Each day he commutes from Weehawken, New Jersey, a suburb only a stone’s
throw from the Big Apple, where he lives with his wife, Donna, and his
teenage son, Steven. A late baby boomer, Rick just missed the Vietnam era's
antiwar protests, but he's been against the war in Iraq from the
beginning. He thinks the Pentagon is out of control and considers the
military-industrial complex a danger to the country. If you asked him, it's
a subject on which he would rate himself as knowledgeable. He puts effort
into educating himself on such matters. He reads liberal websites,
subscribes to progressive-minded magazines, and is a devotee of The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart.
In fact, he has no idea just how deep the Pentagon rabbit hole g oes or how
far down it his family already is.
Rick believes that, despite its long reach, the military-industrial complex
is a discrete entity far removed from his everyday life. Now, if this were
1961, when outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the country about
the "unwarranted influence" of the "military-industrial complex" and
the "large arms industry" already firmly entrenched in the United
States, Rick might be right. After all, he doesn't work for one of the
Pentagon's corporate partners, like arms maker Lockheed Martin. He isn't
in the Army Reserve. He's never attended a performance of the Marine Corps
band (not to mention the Army's, Navy's, or Air Force's music groups).
But today’s geared-up, high-tech Complex is nothing like the olive-drab
outfit of Eisenhower's day: It reaches deeper into American lives and the
American psyche than Eisenhower could ever have imagined. The truth is that,
at every turn, in countless, not-so-visible ways Rick's life is wrapped up
with the military.
So wake up with Rick and sample a single spring morning as the alarm on his
Sony (Department of Defense contractor) clock interrupts his final dream of
the night. Donna is already up and dres sed in fitness apparel by Danskin (a
Pentagon supplier that received more than $780,000 in DoD dollars in 2004
and another $456,000 in 2005) and Hanes Her Way (made by defense contractor
and cake seller Sara Lee Corporation, which took in more than $ 68 million
from the DoD in 2006). Committed to a healthy lifestyle, she's wearing
sneakers from (DoD contractor) New Balance and briskly jogging on a
treadmill made by (DoD contractor) True Fitness Technology.
Rick drags himself to the b athroom (fixtures by Pentagon contractor Kohler,
purchased at defense contractor Home Depot). There, he squeezes the Charmin,
brushes with Crest toothpaste, washes his face with Noxzema; then, hopping
into the shower, he lathers up with Zest and choo ses Donna's Herbal
Essences over Head & Shoulders, :What the hell," he mutters, "I
deserve an organic experience."(The manufacturer of each of these
products, Procter & Gamble, is among the top 100 defense contractors and
raked in a cool $362,461,808 from the Pentagon in 2006.)
In go his (DoD supplier) Bausch and Lomb contact lenses and down goes a
Zantac (from DoD contractor GlaxoSmithKline) for his ulcer. Heading back to
the bedroom, he finds Donna finished with her workout and making the bed
with the TV news on, and lends her a hand. (Their headboard was purchased
from Thomasville Furniture, the mattress from Sears, the pillows were made
by Harris Pillow Supply, all Pentagon contractors.) They exchange grim
glances as, on their Samsung set (another DoD contractor) the Today Show
chronicles the latest in chaos in Iraq."Thank god we never supported this
war," Rick says, thinking of the antiwar rally Donna and he attended even
before the invasion was launched. NBC, which p roduces the Today Show, is
owned by General Electric, the 14th-largest defense contractor in the United
States, to the tune of $2.3 billion from the DoD in 2006, and has worked on
such weapons systems as the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and F/A-18 Horne t
multimission fighter/attack aircraft, both in use in Iraq.
A Who's Who of Your Life
Of course, the Pentagon has long poured U.S. tax dollars into private
coffers to arm and outfit the military and enable it to f unction. At the
time of Eisenhower's farewell address, New York Times reporter Jack
Raymond noted that the Pentagon was spending "$23,000,000,000 a year for
services and procurement of guns, missiles, airplanes, electronic devices,
vehicles, tanks, ammunition, clothing and other military goods." Today,
that would equal around $200 billion. In 2007, the Department of Defense's
stated budget was $439 billion. Counting the costs of its wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the number jumps to over $600 bi llion. Factoring in all the
many related activities carried out by other agencies, actual U.S. national
security spending is nearly $1 trillion per year.
Back in Eisenhower's day, arms dealers and mega-corporations, such as
Lockheed and General Motors, held sway over the corporate side of the
military-industrial complex. Companies like these still play an extremely
powerful role today, but they are dwarfed by the sheer number of contractors
that stretch from coast to coast and across the globe. Looking at the
situation in 1970, almost 10 years after Eisenhower's farewell speech,
Sidney Lens, a journalist and expert on U.S. militarism, noted that there
were 22,000 prime contractors doing business with the U.S. Department of
Defense. Today, the number of prime contractors tops 47,000 with
subcontractors reaching well over the 100,000 mark, making for one massive
conglomerate touching nearly every sector of society, from top computer
manufacturer Dell (the 50th-largest DoD contractor in 2006) to oil giant
ExxonMobil (the 30th) to package-shipping titan FedEx (the 26th).
In fact, the Pentagon payroll is a veritable who's who of the top
companies in the world: IBM; Time-Warner; Ford and General Motors;
Microsoft; NBC and its parent company, General Electric; Hilton and
Marriott; Columbia TriStar Films and its parent company, Sony; Pfizer; Sara
Lee; Procter & Gamble; M&M Mars and Hershey; Nestle; ESPN and its parent
company, Walt Disney; Bank of America; and Johnson & Johnson among many
other big-name firms. But the difference between now and then isn't only
in scale. As this list suggests, Pentagon spending is reaching into
previously neglected areas of American life: entertainmen t, popular consumer
brands, sports. This penetration translates into a remarkable variety of
forms of interaction with the public.
Rick and Donna's home is full of the fruits of this incursion. As they
putter around in their kitc hen, getting ready for the day ahead, they move
from the wall cabinets (purchased at DoD contractor Lowe's Home Center) to
the refrigerator (from defense contractor Maytag), choosing their breakfast
from a cavalcade of products made by Pentagon contract ors. These companies
that, quite literally, feed the Pentagon's war machine, are the same firms
that fill the shelves of America's kitchens.
Today, just about every supermarket staple, from Ballpark Franks (Sara
Lee) and Eggo waffles (K elloggs) to Jell-O (Kraft) and Coffee Mate (Nestle),
has ties to the Pentagon. The same holds for many household appliances.
In Rick and Donna's dining room, a small Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner
buzzes around the floor. Rick thought it would be cute to have the little
mechanical device trolling around the house making their hectic lives just a
tad easier. Little did he know that Roomba's manufacturer, iRobot, takes
in U.S. tax dollars ($51 million of them from the DoD in 2006, more than a
quarter of the company's revenue) and turns them into PackBots, tactical
robots used by U.S. troops occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, and Warrior X700s
250-pound semiautonomous robots armed with heavy weapons such as machine
guns, that may be depl oyed in Iraq this year.
In addition to selling millions of Roombas to civilian consumers, the
company uses government tax dollars to make money on the civilian side of
its business. According to the company's December 2006 annual report
(which listed as its "Research Support Agencies" the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency [DARPA], the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems
Command, the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, and the U.S.
Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center), government
funding, allows iRobot to accelerate the development of multiple
technologies. Yet iRobot retains ownership of patents and know-how and
[is] generally free to develop other commercial products, including consumer
and industrial products, utilizing the technologies developed during these
projects.It's a very sweet deal. And iRobot is hardly alone.
Entering the Digital World with Guns Blazing
Sitting on the dining room table is Rick's HP (Hew lett-Packard) notebook
computer. HP is another company that has grown its civilian know-how with
generous military contracts, like the multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal it
signed in 2005 with DARPA to "develop technologies to improve the
perfor mance of mission-critical computer networks used during combat and
other vital operations." A spokesman for the company noted, "Our work
for DARPA is aimed at significantly improving the performance of the
Internet. If we can successfully create new approaches to the way
Internet traffic is detected and routed, we may start seeing the Internet
used as the de facto communications and information network in areas where
it previously would've been thought too risky." Success would certainly
translate into more lucrative civilian work, as well.
Meanwhile, Rick and Donna's son, Steven, is still upstairs, having a hard
time tearing himself away from his computer game. His room is a veritable
showcase of the new entertainment/sports/high tech/pop culture dimension of
the twenty-first-century Complex: there are NASCAR posters (in 2005, more
than $38 million in taxpayer money was spent on the U.S. armed forces'
racecars); National Football League (NFL) jerseys and baseball caps (the NFL
has partnered with the Pentagon to create military profiles aired during TV
broadcasts of regular and postseason games, while individual NFL teams have
hosted "military appreciation" events); X-Men comic books (the Pentagon
teamed up with Marvel Comics to produce limited-edition,
"military-exclusive" comic books, with pro-Pentagon themes, that are
now sought after by civilian collectors); and a wastebasket filled with
empty Mountain Dew bottles (the Air Force was one of the spon sors of the Dew
Action Sports Tour, a traveling show featuring skateboarding, BMX, and
freestyle motocross contests).
During Ike's time, when civilian firms like Ford and AT&T were the big
military suppliers, the payroll showe d an utter lack of cool companies. Now,
the Pentagon is reaching into virgin territory in new ways with new
partners. Today, hip firms like Apple, Google, and Starbucks are also on DoD
contractors lists. And while Ike's complex was typified by brass bands
and patriotic parades, todays variant is a flashy digitized world of
video games, extreme sports, and everything cool that appeals to potential
young recruits.
Steven finally shuts down Tropico: Paradise Island, a nation-building
simulation video game where the player, as "El Presidente," attempts to
lure tourists to his/her fun-in-the-sun resort. Neither father nor son is
remotely aware that the software maker, Breakaway Games, does
taxpayer-funde d work for such military clients as DARPA, the Joint Forces
Command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the United States Air
Force, as well as having developed 24 Blue, a simulator used to improve
aircraft carrier-based operations. They are b lissfully unaware of even the
existence of Breakaway's Pentagon-funded video game that could conceivably
lead to more effective bombing of targets abroad.
Steven grabs his iPod MP3 player (from DoD contractor Apple Computer) and
heads downstairs to leave with his father. On his way to the door, Rick goes
to his bookshelf and scans a selection of progressive texts whose publishers
just happen to be DoD contractors, including a reissue of Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin), Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's
America by Lou Dubose and Molly Ivins (Random House), and Jon Stewart's
America (The Book) (Warner Books), before choosing the Hugo Chavez-approved
Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky (ahem, Metropolitan Books from
Macmillan publishers). As the last one out, Donna sets the ADT alarm system.
(ADT took in more than $16 million from the Pentagon in 2006, while its
parent company, Tyco International, cleaned up to the tune of over $187
million.)
The Pentagon on Wheels
Rick and Steven hop into the Saturn parked in the driveway. Rick is proud of
his car choice, after all, Saturn has such a people-friendly (even
anti-Detroit establishment) vibe. Admittedly, he is aware that General
Motors owns not only the Saturn but the Hummer brand — the civilian
version of the U.S. military's Humvee, but he believes that, in this
world, you can't be squeaky-clean perfect. But Hummer isn't the half of
it.
How could Rick have known that, in 1999, GM formally entered the Army's
COMBATT (COMmercially BAsed Tactical Truck) vehicle development program? Or
that GM actually had its own military division, General Motors Defense, when
his Saturn was made? Nor could Rick have known that GM Defense formed a
joint venture with defense giant General Dynamics to create the GM-GDLS
Defense Group (which was awarded in excess of $1.5 billion in DoD contract
dollars in 2005). Or that GM took in $87 million from the Pentagon in 2006.
Or that, in 2007, GM entered into a 50-year lease agreement to build a $100
million test track on the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds. Or that the
maker of his Saturn's tires, Go odyear, was America's 69th-largest
defense contractor in 2004, with DoD contracts worth nearly $357 million.
Rick might be an aging baby boomer, but he still tries to look cool (to
Steven's embarrassment). As he pulls the Saturn out of the drivewa y, he
dons a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Oakley supplies goggles and boots to U.S.
troops. And while the military purchased goggles from firms such as the
American Optical Company during the 1940s, it's unlikely that anyone ever
called that company's designs "badass," as Powder, a skiing magazine
that runs Army recruitment ads on its website, called one of Oakley's
products.
Driving along, Rick glances over at his son. "Are those the Wolverine
boots we just got you?"
"Yeah, Dad," answers Steven, looking down at his now-ratty footwear.
Rick's already thinking about the next pair he'll need to buy his son,
not about the five-year, multimillion-dollar contract the company signed in
2003 to supply the Army with an upgraded infantry combat boot, or the other
deals, worth tens of millions of dollars, that Wolverine signed with the
Pentagon in 2004, 2006, and 2007.
As they drive to his school, Steven perks u p. "That's it, Dad!" he
says, pointing at a Ford Escape that just pulled into the high school
parking lot."Whaddaya say, Dad? Next year, when I get my license?"
Rick remembers hearing on the radio that Ford makes an Escape
hybrid-electric vehicle. "You know what, son? I think maybe we just might
look into it." He experiences a little burst of satisfaction. Not only can
he feel like a good dad, but as a bonus he can even help the environment.
(Ford Motor Company and its subsidiaries have, of course, garnered rafts of
defense contracts and aided the Army and Navy in various projects.)
Overjoyed, Steven shoots his father a big smile as he opens the car door,
"Alright! Well, I'll see you tonight, Dad."
"Do you have your cell phone?" Rick asks. Steven whips a Motorola from
his pocket. (Motorola made almost $308 million from the Department of
Defense in 2004, while the phone's service provider, Verizon, took home
more than $128 million in DoD contracts, and $ 50 million more from the
Department of Homeland Security, in 2006.)
The Real Matrix
With Steven at school, Rick heads for work. He gives the local Exxon station
(ExxonMobil took in more than $1.17 billion in DoD dollars in 2006) a pass
and instead pulls into Shell, which likes to portray itself as a kinder,
greener oil giant. As he signs the receipt of his Bank of America credit
card (a firm which issues special credit cards to Pentagon employees to
streamline the process of buying supplies for the DoD), Rick has no way of
knowing that Shell's parent company, N.V. Koninklijke Nederlandsche, was
the 31st-largest defense contractor in 2006, reaping more than $1.15 billion
dollars in DoD contracts.
Entering the Holland Tunnel on his way to Manhattan, Rick realizes that,
with Steven driving next year, he can start taking mass transit to work. The
PATH train into the city, recently restored under the watchful eye of
Bechtel, the 15th-largest defense contractor of 2004 and the recipient of
more than $1.7 billion in DoD contracts that year, will, he believes,
lessen his "footprint" on the planet.
Keep in mind, Rick is now only a couple of hours into his long day. In fact,
no part of the hours to come will be lacking in products produced by
Pentagon contractors, from the framed photographs of Donna and Steven on
his desk (taken by an Olympus camera and printed on Kodak paper) to the beer
he drinks with lunch (Budweiser) to most of the products around his office,
including: 3M Post-It notes, Microsoft Windows software, Lexmark printers,
Canon photocopiers, AT&T telephones, Maxwell House Coffee, Kidde fire
extinguishers, Xerox fax machines, IBM servers, paper from International
Paper, Duracell batteries, an LG Electronics refrigerator, and paper towels
by Marcal Paper Mills.
Rick is, of course, a fiction, but the rest of us aren't, and neither
is the existence of the real Matrix.
In the 1999 sci-fi movie classic of the same name, the Matrix is an
artificial reality (resembling the Western world at the dawn of the
twenty-first century) created by sentient machines. Humans, who are grown as
energy sources and wired in to the Matrix using cybernetic implants, are
kept in a coma-like state — ignorant of the very existence of the
artificial reality that they “live” in. In explaining the situation to
Neo, the movie’s pr otagonist, Morpheus, a leader of a group of unplugged
free humans who wage a guerrilla struggle against the machines, reveals:
“The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in
this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or
when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to
work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the
world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the
truth.”
At one point in his farewell speech, Eisenhower presaged this point,
suggesting, "The total influence, economic, political, even spiritual
[of the conjunction of the military establishment and the large arms
industry] is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the
Federal government." But only Hollywood has yet managed to capture the
essence of today's omnipresent, all-encompassing, cleverly hidden system
of systems that invades all our lives; this new
military-industrial-technological-entertainment-academic-scientific-
media-intelligence-homeland security-surveillance-national
security-corporate complex that has truly taken hold of America.
From the Book The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives by
Nick Turse.
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