Смедли Батлер цитаты

„"Я провел 33 года и четыре месяца на действительной военной службе и в течение этого периода большую часть своего времени я проводил в качестве вышибалы для Большого бизнеса, для Уолл-стрит и банкиров. Короче говоря, я был рэкетиром, гангстером капитализма. Я помог сделать Мексику и особенно Тампико безопасной для американских нефтяных интересов в 1914 году. Я помог сделать Гаити и Кубу достойным местом для сбора доходов мальчиками из National City Bank. Я помог изнасиловать полдюжины центральноамериканских республик в интересах Уолл-стрит. Я помог очистить Никарагуа для Международного банковского дома братьев Браун в 1902-1912 годах. Я обеспечил доступ к свету в Доминиканской Республике для американских сахарных интересов в 1916 году. Я помог сделать Гондурас ручным для американских фруктовых компаний в 1903 году. В Китае в 1927 году я помог сделать так, чтобы "Стандард Ойл" продолжала свой путь беспрепятственно. Оглядываясь назад, я мог бы дать Аль Капоне несколько подсказок. Лучшее, что он мог сделать, это вести свою дельца в трех районах. Я же действовал на трех континентах".“

„Война - это рэкет. Она всегда была этим. И возможно, самым старым, точно самым прибыльным, несомненно, самым порочным. Только она имеет международный масштаб. Единственно, что прибыль здесь исчисляется в долларах, а потери - в жизнях.“

„"Мой интерес, мое единственное хобби - это поддержание демократии. Если у вас есть 500 000 солдат, выступающих за фашизм, я получу на 500 000 больше и вырежу вас к чертовой матери, и у нас будет настоящая гражданская война прямо дома".“

„Как и у всех представителей военной профессии, у меня никогда не было собственных мыслей, пока я не ушел со службы. Мои умственные способности оставались в бездействии, пока я подчинялся приказам вышестоящего начальства. Это типично для всех, кто служит в армии".“

„Я верю в адекватную оборону на побережье и ни во что другое. Если какая-то страна придет сюда воевать, то мы будем воевать. Беда Америки в том, что когда доллар зарабатывает здесь только 6 процентов, то капитал становится беспокойным и отправляется за границу, чтобы получить 100 процентов. Тогда флаг следует за долларом, а солдаты - за флагом.“

„Я провел тридцать три года и четыре месяца на действительной военной службе в составе самой маневренной военной силы этой страны - Корпуса морской пехоты. Я служил во всех офицерских званиях от второго лейтенанта до генерал-майора. И в течение этого периода я проводил большую часть своего времени в качестве высококлассного вышибалы для Большого бизнеса, для Уолл-стрит и для банкиров. Короче говоря, я был рэкетиром, гангстером капитализма.“

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”

“My interest is, my one hobby is, maintaining a democracy. If you get these 500,000 soldiers advocating anything smelling of Fascism, I am going to get 500,000 more and lick the hell out of you, and we will have a real war right at home.”

“War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.”

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

“Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.”

“I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.”

“There are 40,000,000 men under arms in the world today, and our statesmen and diplomats have the temerity to say that war is not in the making. Hell's bells! Are these 40,000,000 men being trained to be dancers?”

“But what does it profit the men who are killed? What does it profit their mothers and sisters, their wives and their sweethearts? What does it profit their children? What does it profit anyone except the very few to whom war means huge profits? Yes, and what does it profit the nation?”

“I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.”

“A few profit – and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it. You can't end it by disarmament conferences. You can't eliminate it by peace parleys at Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical groups can't wipe it out by resolutions. It can be smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war.”

“What business is it of ours whether Russia or Germany or England or France or Italy or Austria live under democracies or monarchies? Whether they are Fascists or Communists? Our problem is to preserve our own democracy. And very little, if anything, has been accomplished to assure us that the World War was really the war to end all wars.”

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”

“The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent. But war-time profits -- ah! that is another matter -- twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent -- the sky is the limit.”

“For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.”

“And what is this bill? This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.”

“Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few -- the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.”

“How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets?…How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?”