The War Profiteers and Iran

The War Profiteers and Iran

By Cliff Kincaid

Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, a former top general in World War II, warned in his farewell address on January 17, 1961, of “an immense military establishment and a large arms industry.” As we saw in the use of the military against Iran, without a formal declaration of war, the problem he identified decades ago is bigger than ever before. The arms industry has captured the administration of the president who promised peace in our time and no more war.

What is missing in the coverage of the “Midnight Hammer” strike on Iran is that the regime’s backers in Russia and China can easily reconstitute its nuclear weapons program. In fact, the Russians may be directing missile strikes on Israel at the current time since various Iranian generals have been assassinated.

In the wake of the “Midnight Hammer” strike, the Russians may supply the actual nuclear weapons to Iran and may have already done so.  Clearly, the Iranians have had enough time to hide their weapons and nuclear materials.

In addition, the Iranians have a submarine force of 19-27 vessels, some of which can lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping channel through which 20 percent of the world’s daily oil flows, disrupting oil supplies and raising oil prices to $200.00 a barrel. This would have the effect of benefitting and financing Russia’s war against Ukraine and causing the U.S. economy to go into recession, even depression.

As this proceeds, the defense industry, which reaped extraordinary profits from the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, can expect more profits. Watch for Wall Street to boost defense stocks.

The U.S. spent $2.3 trillion on the war in Afghanistan. The death count was 2,219 Americans killed in action and 20,093 wounded, with the Taliban, which hosted al-Qaeda, back in power, and al-Qaeda now in power in Syria.

We do not have generals like Eisenhower any more. The ex-generals of today sit on the boards of defense firms and appear on cable news, especially Fox News, concealing their profit-oriented motives.

Anybody who watches Fox News and other channels quickly understands that retired military officials pose as “analysts” without disclosing their defense-industry ties. One study estimated that over 80 percent of retired four-star generals and admirals (26 of 32) went on to work in the arms industry as board members. Prior to that, an analysis revealed that of 158 identified senior mentors (that is, retired military officers functioning as part-time government advisors), 80 percent had financial ties to defense contractors -- and 29 were full-time executives of defense companies.

Jack Keane, a retired General and Fox News regular, is one of the most prominent and has been leading the charge for a U.S. military strike on Iran. He is identified as the Fox News “senior strategic analyst” who comes across as calm and reasonable in urging U.S. support for Israeli military strikes on Iran and even a direct American role in the bombing.  What we do not hear from him is any support for a congressional role, as required by the Constitution, or acknowledgement of his role in the defense industry that makes money from war.

Instead, he is usually described as chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, whose board members include such figures as “Dr. William Kristol,” a notorious anti-Trump personality associated with the Iraq War disaster, and retired General David Petraeus, Obama’s former CIA director who leaked classified information to his mistress.

Various bios for Keane are confusing and some are out of date. But we do know that Keane’s private sector involvement includes serving as a board member of the giant aerospace and defense firm General Dynamics, said to be the fifth-largest military contractor in the world, which supplies Saudi Arabia and Israel with military equipment.

Equally important, Keane is associated with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition and “resistance” group in Iran which began as a Marxist organization once branded as terrorist by the U.S. Government. He delivered a speech at a “Free Iran” rally in 2022 sponsored by the NCRI.   

As I have described in a column on this “former” Marxist terror organization, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also referred to as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), is the principal member of the NCRI and is described as “Iran’s largest, most organized opposition group.” The PMOI is also known as the Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO).

In addition to my own analysis of this well-funded so-called Iranian “resistance” organization, Michael Rubin of the conservative American Enterprise Institute has written critically of the political and military people associated with the NCRI, saying it has made progress with officials of both major political parties through corrupt practices, such as paying them off.

His 2021 article, “The Mujahedin-e-Khalq Has Become a Barometer of Washington Corruption” contends that “Five and six-figure honoraria and speakers’ fees are common for retired officials” to speak at their events and that “Sitting officials expect to receive lucrative campaign contributions.”

His work helps explain why leading Democrats such as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, now the House Democratic Leader, had failed to speak out against proposed U.S. military action against Iran. Rubin identified Jeffries and other Democrats, as well as Republicans, as major speakers at NCRI events.

He explained, “The normal donation for former American officials speaking at the MKO’s annual rallies in Paris or Albania is around $50,000, quite a haul for a five-minute speech.”

He referred to the organization’s “Marxist-infused Islamism” and how it has been more recently sounding “democratic” to attract support.  Rubin himself wrote a history of the group, entitled “Monsters of the Left,” noting how its roots consist of “terrorism, autocracy, and Marxism.”

Rubin referred to the organization as a “wacky cult” ruled with “an iron fist” by its leaders Masoud and Maryam Rajavi and added, “The tax returns of its affiliated U.S. groups suggest that the donations it makes and its pay-for-endorsement schemes are rooted in foreign money; there is no other explanation for how groups can pay off politicos with amounts greater than their annual operating budgets,” he wrote. He suggests foreign funding from Saudi Arabia and Israel.

In 2023, Masoud Rajavi was reported to have gone missing or died.

To my knowledge, General Keane has never been asked on Fox about his association with the NCRI or his membership on boards of defense firms.

In Saudi Arabia, General Dynamics established an affiliate, General Dynamics Information Systems & Technology Arabia, a Saudi company “established to deliver the strength of General Dynamics to solutions for the Kingdom and to grow an indigenous Saudi capability through technology and knowledge transfer.”

According to public reports, Keane also serves as president of GSI, LLC, an “executive search” consulting firm, as well as a mem ber of the Council on Foreign Relations.

One bio of General Keane reveals the following: “He has been elected to the Board of Directors of Metlife, General Dynamics and Allied Barton Security. He is a senior advisor to Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts, one of the nation's largest private equity firms and is an advisor to the Chairman & CEO of URS Corporation.”

Earlier this year, Keane was appointed to the board of SIGA Technologies, a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company.

The problem associated with any strike on Iran means that the Arab/Muslim world will still be preoccupied with Israel’s nuclear arsenal, estimated at more than 100 warheads.

Iran and other Muslim countries, with backing from Russia, have long proposed that the United Nations create “a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East” by insisting that Israel, the only non-party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in this region, abolish its nuclear deterrent. Iran is a member of the NPT.

Such a scheme was outlined back in 2005 in an article by Mohamed Elbaradei, the director-general at the time of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Elbaradei argued there would have to be “a dialogue on regional security as part of the peace process,” to be followed by an agreement “to make the Middle East a nuclear-weapons-free zone.”

As this plan is developing, which we examine in our book, Red Jihad, the price of any nuclear deal with Iran or other Arab/Muslim states seeking nuclear weapons will be the nuclear disarmament of Israel, a development that would leave the Jewish state even more vulnerable to attack.

A “regime change” in Iran will not change this calculation.
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• Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org