Trump Takes on ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ That Sends American Sons and Daughters Home in Coffins
Oct. 10, 2019 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump yesterday threw the horror of war back in the faces of reporters and politicians attacking his decision to pull U.S. military support from the Kurdish militia in northern Syria, counterposing his commitment to end the endless wars as he had promised in his 2016 campaign, to the threat from the “military-industrial complex” which President Dwight Eisenhower, a retired general, had warned of on Jan. 17, 1961, three days before leaving office.
Given the current refusal of most so-called media to report what the President of the United States says in full, and the elementary humanity which underpins his strategic decision, we here provide the key, concluding section from the transcript of Donald Trump’s discussion with White House reporters yesterday afternoon after signing two Executive Orders on Transparency in Federal Guidance and Enforcement:
“Now, if we go on the theory that some of the folks in Washington go by—who all do very well with the military-industrial complex.... You know, the military-industrial complex. Take a look at Dwight Eisenhower; he had it figured right many years ago. It’s got tremendous power. They like fighting. They make a lot of money when they fight.
“But it was time to bring our soldiers back home.... I will tell you: The hardest thing I have to do, by far, much harder than the witch hunt, is signing letters to parents of soldiers that have been killed. And it’s not only that—in areas where there’s not a lot of upside, if there’s any upside at all, and in many cases, it’s only downside.
“And especially when that solider was killed in a Blue-on-Green attack. You know what that is, right? That’s where a solider being trained or whatever turns his gun on an American solider.... We have many of them in Afghanistan—in particular, in Afghanistan.
“The hardest thing I have to do is signing those letters. That’s the hardest thing I have to do. And each letter is different.... And sometimes I call the parents. Sometimes I see the parents. I go to Dover [Air Force Base], when I can, but it’s—it’s so devastating for the parents when they bring that boy or young woman out of the back of those big, powerful planes in a coffin, and the parents are there....
“I’ll get there early.... I said, ‘The parents seemed to be okay.’ [The military staff at Dover AFB reply:] ‘Well, actually, sir, they aren’t.... Sir, you never know until the back of that massive cargo plane opens up.’
“And they walk down holding a coffin with four or five great soldiers on each side of it, representing our various forces.... And I see people that were smiling, ‘Oh, Mr. President, thank you for being here. Thank you for being here.’ And I think they’re doing great. And then, twenty minutes later, we’ll be outside when that big plane pulls up and that door comes down, and they are walking the coffin with their boy inside this coffin with an American flag over the top. And they’re walking that coffin down this ramp. And I’ve seen people that I thought were really incredible the way they were … I didn’t even understand how they could take it so well—scream, like I’ve never seen anything before. Sometimes they’ll run to the coffin. They’ll break through military barriers. They’ll run to the coffin and jump on top of the coffin. Crying mothers and wives. Crying desperately.
“And this is on these endless wars that just never stop. And there’s a time and there’s a place, but it’s time to stop.
“And just to finish, last Friday, I went to Walter Reed [Military Hospital]. And I gave out five Purple Hearts to incredible young men—in this case, all men. And they took a beating. Beautiful people. They took a beating. One couldn’t be there because the beating was so great that he was at a totally different part of the world. He lost a leg. He lost an arm. Ryan. He had tremendous damage, beyond even what these young folks went through.
“But I’ll tell you what: For me, it’s very hard when I see that. It’s very hard. It’s easy to talk tough. You know, tough guys. All of these tough guys. ‘Let’s keep fighting. Let’s keep fighting.’ If they had to go to Walter Reed—.”
