"War is a Racket"

The always-interesting John Richards sends along this link to a remarkable antiwar tract written back in the 1930s by Marine Major General Smedley Butler. Like Eisenhower's later denunciations of the military-industrial complex (a phrase Eisenhower coined), it's still relevant today and carries extra weight because of its source.

By the way, a little quick research suggests that Smedley Butler (of whom I'd never heard before) was a remarkable figure, worthy of more than a footnote in the history books. He was the most highly-decorated Marine of his day (winner of two Congressional Medals of Honor), helped lead the "bonus army" march on Washington demanding benefits for World War I veterans, and appeared before Congress to denounce an attempted coup plot against the FDR administration.

There's a 1994 scholarly study of Butler published by the University Press of Kentucky, but no "popular" biography. Seems as though there ought to be one.