IN CONTEXT
Non-interventionism
War profiteering
1898–1934 The “Banana Wars” in Central America and the Caribbean aim to protect US business interests, notably for the United Fruit Company.
1904 The US government funds the new Panama Canal and declares sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone.
1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt institutes the Good Neighbor Policy, limiting US intervention in Latin America.
1981 Contra rebels backed by the US oppose the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
2003 The US-led invasion of Iraq leads to the granting of concessions to US businesses.
Industrialization in the Western world has radically altered the nature of both trade and warfare. The relationship between economic interests and foreign affairs has raised questions about the motives and benefits of armed conflict, leading many people, including Smedley D. Butler, to highlight the role of the military in driving foreign policy.
"War is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many."
Smedley D. Butler
Butler was a highly decorated US Marine Corps general who served for 34 years in numerous overseas campaigns, particularly in Central America. Drawing on his own experiences, especially during the “Banana Wars,” Butler felt that much of his military career had served to secure US business interests overseas, with him acting as “a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”
Redefining a just war
Concerned that the main benefits of military action were the profits made by industrialists through securing foreign sites for trade and investment, Butler suggested limiting the justification for war to self-defense and the protection of civil rights.
On retiring from the Marines, Butler voiced his concerns in a series of talks, and in War is a Racket, published in 1935, he set out his agenda for limiting the profitability of war and restricting governments’ capacity to engage in offensive action overseas.
Although Butler’s impact at the time was limited, his views on war profiteering and US foreign policy have remained influential.
See also: José Martí • Hannah Arendt • Noam Chomsky