War Is a Racket: General Smedley Butler

I never heard the speech before, it is awesome and timeless. The actor does a great job, he even looks like Butler.

During his 34 years of Marine Corps service, Smedley Butler was awarded numerous medals for heroism including the Marine Corps Brevet Medal (the highest Marine medal at its time for officers), and subsequently the Medal of Honor twice. Notably, he is one of only 19 people to be twice awarded the Medal of Honor, and one of only three to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor for two different actions.

Watch it:

28 thoughts on “War Is a Racket: General Smedley Butler”

  1. This is a little passage from a little book I authored a few years ago that reflects on some of Smedley Butler’s work in Haiti:

    But the American Occupation also left an ugly legacy of repression of the patriotic opposition tarnished with a bitter dose of racism. The Americans, many from southern states, did not make much of a difference between the shades of color that partitioned Haitian society. One Marine Commandant, upon observing deliberations in the National Assembly, wrote back home: “imagine that, a bunch of niggers speaking french!” The Haitian nationalists who fought in the resistance movement were called the Cacos and, by 1920, both of their leaders, Charlemagne Peralte and Benoit Batraville, had been assassinated by specially trained Marine hit squads sent into the hills for that purpose… President Wilson ordered official investigations and there were Senate hearings on reports of abuse, torture and summary executions of Haitians by Marines. Below are parts of an article in the Nation, by American journalist Herbert J. Seligman, that caused a sensation in the summer of 1920.

    “Five years of American Occupation, from 1915 to 1920, have served as a commentary upon the white civilization which still burns black men and women at the stake. For Haitian men, women and children, to a number estimated at 3000, innocent of any offense, have been shot down by American machine-gun and rifle bullets; black men have been put to the torture….theft, arson and murder have been committed almost with impunity…by white men wearing the uniforms of the United States.”

    Alarm also came from Haitian intellectuals who accused the occupation forces of “butchery of women and children, massacre of prisoners, use of man-eating dogs…” in their counterinsurgency campaign. We have always taken such anecdotes from long ago with a grain of salt, knowing the Haitian propensity for exaggeration. But again, the revelations by the great investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh, on the horrors at Abu Ghraib, replete with pictures of terrorized, naked prisoners tied to iron cell bars with American soldiers sticking ferocious dogs upon them and inflicting terrible wounds, lend a lot of credence to the stories of old.

    1. Yep, both Haiti and Phillipines got the full make-over treatment from the US, and neither is at all the better for it. Oligarchy at the best.

      Lester Ness
      Kunming
      China

  2. Great clip. To hell with War!! Right on. I loved the part where he talks about the medals. For anyone who has served it’s easy to see how motivational this is while your in service. It becomes a justification for almost anything (Good dog here is your treat). It makes it all seem somehow worthwhile, untill you get home and realize it’s all a farce. I got good and drunk one night started a bonfire in my backyard and burnt all my orders and awards. My family thought I was nuts, I think it was the beginning of sanity.

    Isn’t it amazing how war the most destructive of all enterprizes can somehow supposedly become great for the economy? We destroy capitol, production, lives and future prosperity and believe it’s somehow for our own good. What a great joke, to bad the joke is on us.

    Peace!

    1. I got good and drunk one night started a bonfire in my backyard and burnt all my orders and awards.

      That’s been on my “to-do” list for a long time too. I’ll have to be sure to act on it next time I do a brush burn in my backyard.

    2. I wonder if Gen. Butler ever burned or otherwise discarded his medals as well. I only compiled a few during my 8 years in the USAF, and to this day I don’t know what I ever did with them. I gave some of my uniforms, rank insignia & name tags to a cousin who was still in the USAF, since they were of some use to someone. About the only memento I still have is the most important — the honorable discharge form.

  4. Good video, but having “Gen. Butler” (who died in 1940) standing in front of a 50-star flag is more than a little incongruous.

  6. You humans think small. This planet will not last the next century. Your futile insignificant acts are never noticed. I’m suprised to see this particular race live as long as today, it is truely amazing to see how the homosapien race has multiplied and advanced this far. Though, the longer your race continues to exist, the more destructive and dangerous your people become. Your species will destroy themselves 1,000 times over, it has been seen by your inhabitants current nature and behavioral patterns. You have been warned. You do not deserve a place in this universe if you do not learn to co-exist

  7. Major General Smedley (“Old Gimlet Eye”) Butler, USMC was a stellar light in a Corps that’s known for the quality of its officers. Alexander Vandegrift, Lemuel Shepard, Merritt
    (“Red Mike”) Edson, Lewis (“Chesty”) Puller, Lew Walt, Victor (“The Brute”) Krulak et al. were fighting men’s fighting men.

    When a man like “Old Gimlet Eye” Butler talks about the depravity of war (and those who profit from it), you’d better listen up.

  8. I agree with this, first time I heard that type of news.Please share more info.After wards, I can put more points and views in front of everyone.

    1. I've been spreading the word about this for years this should be required reading in high school, junior high school, and if we really cave a damn about kids, all kids, it would be.

  9. C?n s?t giàn ph?i qu?n áo
    Không gian ch?t h?p khi?n nhi?u h? gia ?ình ph?i b?ng kho?n lo l?ng khi s?p x?p không gian nhà ? m?t cách h?p lý. gian phoi do
    ?ây c?ng là n?i lo chung c?a nhi?u ng??i trong cu?c s?ng hi?n ??i, ??c bi?t là nh?ng ai sinh s?ng trong các ?ô th?. Không ch? mang l?i ti?n ích, các s?n ph?m nh? gian phoi qu?n áo thông minh hay t? âm t??ng còn ?em l?i s? thông thoáng cho không gian gia ?ình b?n và ph?n nào tô ?i?m c?n nhà c?a b?n. V?i nhi?u ng??i Vi?t Nam, giàn ph?i thông minh còn khá xa l? nh?ng v?i nh?ng n??c phát tri?n nh? các n??c ? B?c M? và ?ông Âu thì s?n ph?m này ?ã tr? nên quen thu?c và ???c r?t nhi?u ng??i s? d?ng. giàn ph?i thông minh&

    Nh? nghiên c?u và t?n d?ng các công ngh? hi?n ??i, giàn ph?i ?? thông minh ?ã ???c ra ??i sao cho v?a hi?n ??i, v?a ti?n l?i nh?ng v?n g?n gàng và d? s? d?ng. giàn ph?i thông minh
    ?u ?i?m b?c nh?t c?a giàn ph?i ?? thông minh là ti?t ki?m không gian, ?i?u mà m?i gia ?ình trong cu?c s?ng càng ngày càng ?ông ?úc, nhà c?a càng thu h?p l?i ?ang r?t c?n. gian phoi
    Nói v? ?? ti?n d?ng thì không ai có th? ph? nh?n r?ng giàn ph?i thông minh là s?n ph?m c?n nh?t cho m?i gia ?ình hi?n nay. Không nh?ng ti?t ki?m ???c không gian s?ng, giàn ph?i còn giúp m?i ng??i thoát kh?i d? b?n lòng v? m?t m? qu?n áo ? ??ng không có ch? thông thoáng ?? ph?i móc. giàn ph?i ??
    Dân s? th? gi?i hi?n nay ?ang t?ng v?i t?c ?? nhanh và còn ti?p t?c t?ng trong nh?ng n?m s?p t?i. Chính vì v?y, c?nh ??t ch?t ng??i ?ông ?ang ngày càng tr? nên ph? bi?n, ??c bi?t là t?i các n??c ?ang phát tri?n và phát tri?n. Trong s? ?ó, t?p trung nhi?u nh?t ? các thành ph? hay khu v?c có ?i?u ki?n thu?n l?i cho kinh t? phát tri?n. Di?n tích sinh ho?t c?a ng??i dân b? thu h?p. giàn ph?i
    Không ít ng??i ph?i s?ng trong nh?ng c?n h? ch?t nít và bé tí. M?i ho?t ??ng ?? duy trì cu?c s?ng bình th??ng c?ng c?n ph?i s?p x?p không gian sao cho h?p lý và hi?u qu?. Tr??c th?c tr?ng nh? hi?n nay, giàn ph?i qu?n áo thông minh ???c thi?t k? và ra ??i ?? giúp khách hàng ti?t ki?m không gian sinh s?ng sao cho phù h?p nh?t. ?ây c?ng là m?t ch?n l?a nh?m gi?i quy?t không gian ph?i qu?n áo trong gia ?ình ?ang ???c ?ông ??o khách hàng tin dùng. gian phoi

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  12. People have specified the knowledge and blessing of education just in the educational institutes and to the books. Those people have badly faces the withdrawal in their life that could be used as the learned lesson for other people. Education is for all people but the fact is that people need to understand this important thing.

  13. and one of only three to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor for two different actions.

  18. Brendan Rodgers
    You can go here h??ng d?n cá ?? bóng ?á to read far more about Liverpool’s latest step backwards and last week’s Winners and Losers for a more thorough assessment of my thoughts on Rodgers. Things have simply got that little bit worse.

    Since the away victory ty le keo da banh at Swansea on March 16, Liverpool have won five of their 18 matches in all competitions. Five of those games were against teams we could broadly describe as top-four rivals (Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea), with a return of just two points.

    Demands for patience are valid when a manager is taking a team forward, but at a slower rate than many may like. They are not valid when a manager is taking a team backwards after more than three years in charge. Therein lies the decision that Liverpool will soon be forced to make should things fail to ti le keo da bong improve.

  19. Pereira features high in this h??ng d?n ch?i cá ?? bóng ?á list despite playing just 13 minutes of Premier League football, but if there was one position for a young player to thrive in Manchester United’s current team, it is in the No. 10 role. Pereira has an advantage over Wayne Rooney in that he does not play as if weighed down by 5kg of mashed potato.

    Voted as United’s Under-21 Player of the Year last season, Pereira scored in the pre-season victory over San Jose Earthquakes, but has not yet been trusted to impress Louis van Gaal at first-team level. His creation of chances and ability to shield h??ng d?n xem t? l? cá c??c bóng ?á the ball from opponents have both been impressive at international level, with Brazil beating Belgium in the battle for his services.

    Backed by both Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Janzaj to achieve great things at Old Trafford, we await his first minutes of this season with great anticipation.

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