War Is A Racket: The Documented History of War Profiteering

The Documented Formula

They Always Sell War the Same Way

From WWI to Vietnam to Iraq to the drumbeat on Iran, the script doesn't change. The targets change. The faces change. The money flows the same direction.

The sales pitch. The record. The same outcome.

Every war is sold as liberation. History shows it usually delivers chaos.

One hundred years of evidence.

Iran Nuclear Threat: Fact or Fear Campaign?

The current fear campaign — fact-checked.

The Six-Step War Sales Formula

Used by Wilson in 1917. Used by Bush in 2003. Watch for it now.

Step 1 Manufacture a Threat

→

Step 2 Flood the Media

→

Step 3 Frame as Liberation

→

Step 4 Silence Dissent

→

Step 5 Go to War

→

Step 6 Connected Firms Profit

Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler · USMC · Two-time Medal of Honor · Commander, American Expeditionary Forces in China, 1927

War Is a Racket

Smedley D. Butler · Published 1935

The most decorated Marine in American history turned against the machine he served. His short book remains the most direct indictment of war profiteering ever written by someone who was inside the system.

Get the Book →

The Insider Who Blew the Whistle

The Most Decorated Soldier in America Said War Was a Business Scheme

Smedley Butler wasn't a pacifist professor or a left-wing activist. He was America's most decorated military officer — the only person to receive two Medals of Honor for separate actions. He commanded troops in the Philippines, China, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Mexico. He had more combat experience than almost any living American when he published War Is a Racket in 1935.

And he concluded that almost every war he fought in was conducted primarily to make rich people richer.

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

— Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, 1935

Butler documented how companies and corporations increased their profits during World War I by up to 1,700 percent. He calculated that of the $52 billion the government spent on WWI, roughly $16 billion was extracted as profit — not by soldiers, but by bankers, industrialists, and war suppliers.

His conclusion was simple: the people who send men to die almost never send their own sons. The people who profit from war almost never serve in one. The pattern, Butler argued, was not an accident — it was by design.

Butler was so credible that when a group of wealthy American businessmen allegedly plotted to overthrow FDR in 1934 — the so-called Business Plot — they chose him to lead the coup. Butler went to Congress instead and exposed them. U.S. House Special Committee on Un-American Activities, 1934

Watch

How They Sell Every War: The Videos

The propaganda playbook used in WWI was refined, updated, and used again for Iraq. The techniques are identical. Watch how it was done — then watch it being done again.

World War I · 1917

How WWI Changed America: Selling the War

Wilson's Committee on Public Information deployed 75,000 "Four Minute Men" across America, flooded newspapers with government-written articles, and pioneered modern propaganda — all while lenders and industrialists collected billions.

Iraq War · 2003

How to Sell a War: George Bush & Iraq

The neoconservatives saw 9/11 as an opportunity. They manufactured the WMD case, manipulated intelligence, ignored dissent — and handed reconstruction contracts to connected firms before the first bomb fell.

Primary Source Documentation

The Documented War Profiteers: Names, Numbers, Evidence

These aren't conspiracy theories. These are documented facts from U.S. government records, congressional investigations, court documents, and reporting by major news organizations. Every entry below is sourced.

World War I · 1914–1918

J.P. Morgan & Co.

Banking / Allied War Financing

Served as sole purchasing agent for British war supplies — earning $30 million in fees
Organized a syndicate of 2,200 banks and floated a $500 million Allied loan
By 1917, American banks had loaned the Allies nearly $3 billion — had Germany won, those loans were worthless
Postwar critics and the Nye Committee concluded U.S. entry into WWI was partly driven by the need to protect banker loans
Morgan made the first $12M loan to Russia, a $50M loan to France, and handled all British munitions purchases in the U.S.

Encyclopedia.com / WWI War Profiteering U.S. Senate Nye Committee, 1934

World War I · 1914–1918

The Rockefeller Family

Standard Oil / Banking

Made in excess of $200 million from WWI alone
"Displayed great eagerness for the U.S. to enter World War One on the British side"
Standard Oil's net earnings rose from 5.2% in 1915 to 24.9% in 1917
Part of the interlocking banking web — alongside Morgan, Rothschilds, Warburgs — that financed both war production and Allied debt

TIME Magazine Archive / War Profiteering Data Profiting from WWI: Bankers Who Financed Both Sides

World War II · 1933–1942

Prescott Bush

Grandfather of Pres. George W. Bush · Union Banking Corp.

Was a director and shareholder of Union Banking Corporation (UBC), which transferred funds, bonds, gold, coal, and steel to Nazi Germany during its military buildup
In October 1942, the U.S. government seized UBC's assets under the Trading with the Enemy Act
UBC was part of the financial empire of Fritz Thyssen — the German industrialist who personally funded Hitler's rise to power
A separate company Prescott co-managed — Silesian-American Corporation — controlled coal and zinc mines that used forced labor linked to Auschwitz
Newly declassified National Archives documents show the financial relationships continued until 1951
He was never prosecuted. No charges were filed. His son became the 41st U.S. President.

U.S. National Archives · Trading with the Enemy Act Records The Guardian · October 2004 Washington Times · October 2003 Britannica · Prescott S. Bush

WWI–WWII · U.S. Industry

U.S. Steel, Du Pont & American Industry

Munitions, Steel, Chemicals

U.S. Steel's net return on capital jumped from 5.2% (1915) to 24.9% (1917)
Some smaller steel companies saw profit increases over 300%
The eleven largest meat packers made $140 million in profits during 1915–1917 — $121 million more than the three preceding years
A sulfur company saw 236% profit growth
In WWII: corporate earnings overall rose between 41–77%
Of the top 100 WWII contractors, three saw profits increase ten-fold, and 19 tripled their pre-war profits
Butler documented companies selling unusable equipment to the government — charging for goods the military never needed — just to cash in

Butler, War Is a Racket, 1935 TIME Magazine Archive U.S. Senate Investigations, WWII

Iraq War · 2003–2011

Dick Cheney & Halliburton/KBR

U.S. Vice President / Iraq War Architect / Former Halliburton CEO

Cheney served as Halliburton CEO 1995–2000. As VP, Halliburton's subsidiary KBR received a $7 billion no-bid contract — only KBR was allowed to bid
KBR received $39.5 billion total in Iraq-related contracts over a decade (Bloomberg/International Business Times)
Government auditors found KBR overcharged for fuel by $61 million on a single contract. Pentagon auditors flagged $108.4 million in overcharges on one task order alone
As VP, Cheney continued receiving up to $1 million annually in deferred compensation from Halliburton while voting on Iraq policy
Democratic Policy Committee estimated Halliburton overcharges in Iraq exceeded $1 billion total
KBR later pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges, paying a $402 million criminal fine (DOJ, February 2009)
Whistleblower Bunnatine Greenhouse — highest-ranked civilian at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — testified that the contract process was politically corrupted. She was demoted.

CorpWatch · Cheney, Halliburton and the Spoils of War CBS News · Whistleblower on $7B No-Bid Contract DOJ · KBR Guilty Plea, Feb. 11, 2009 PolitiFact · Halliburton/KBR Iraq Contracting History Kyiv Independent · Western Chips Still Reaching Russian Arms Makers

Post-9/11 · 2001–Present

The Defense Contractor Complex

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon (RTX), Boeing, General Dynamics

In 2010 the U.S. defense industry spent $144 million lobbying Congress and donated $22.6 million to congressional candidates
As of January 2020, 51 members of Congress and their partners owned between $2.3–$5.8 million in stock in the top 30 defense contractors (Federal disclosure forms)
The $8 trillion post-9/11 war cost did not go to soldiers — it went primarily to contractors, lenders, and suppliers
Despite export bans, Russian defense manufacturers continue successfully purchasing American-made microchips through front companies. The chips end up in Russian missiles and drones. (Kyiv Independent, 2024)
Defense contractors benefit whether wars are won or lost — the contracts keep coming

Wikipedia / War Profiteering · Congress Stock Holdings Brown University Costs of War Project Kyiv Independent Investigation, 2024

Gulf War · Post-Cold War · 1989–2003

George H.W. Bush & The Carlyle Group

41st U.S. President · Defense Investment

As Secretary of Defense, Bush Sr.'s protégé Dick Cheney paid Brown & Root (later KBR/Halliburton) $3.9 million to write the report that justified privatizing Army logistics — then Brown & Root won the contract
After leaving office, George H.W. Bush became a senior adviser to the Carlyle Group — a private equity firm heavily invested in defense contractors
The Carlyle Group's investors included members of the Bin Laden family — business meetings were occurring the morning of 9/11
As Carlyle profited from defense spending, Bush traveled the world to open doors for Carlyle's investments
Prescott Bush (grandfather) served on the board of Dresser Industries — which later merged with Halliburton, bringing the family profit chain full circle

Center for Public Integrity CorpWatch Wikipedia / Halliburton

American Civil War · 1861–1865

The "Shoddy Millionaires"

Unscrupulous War Contractors, Union Side

Contractors sold recycled, compressed wool scraps ("shoddy") as soldiers' uniforms — they fell apart in rain
Cardboard-soled shoes were sold as leather boots — dissolving on the march
Food contractors sold rotten meat and ground corn husks as rations to the U.S. Army
Lincoln's first Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, was forced to resign in 1862 over war contracting corruption
The 1863 False Claims Act was passed specifically to combat Civil War profiteering — it is still used today
Carnegie and Bethlehem Steel were later found to be selling armor plating to Russia at one-third the price they charged the U.S. Navy

Wikipedia / War Profiteering U.S. Department of Justice / False Claims Act History

Then and Now

The Iraq WMD Playbook: Claim vs. Reality

This is what a manufactured war looks like when the documents finally come out. Every claim below was made publicly, on television, under oath. Every reality comes from official government investigations and reports.

The Official Claim

What the Records Show

"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." — Dick Cheney, August 2002, on national television

The 2004 Iraq Survey Group report confirmed Saddam had destroyed his WMDs in the 1990s and had no active programs. David Kay told the Senate: "It turns out we were all wrong."

"We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." — Condoleezza Rice, 2002

No nuclear program existed. By the time of invasion, Iraq had no ability to produce nuclear material. Its weapons infrastructure had "decayed into a vortex of corruption and incapability." (Iraq Survey Group)

Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the UN Security Council with physical "evidence" of Iraqi WMD programs, February 2003

Powell later called it "a blot" on his record. The intelligence was cherry-picked. The "evidence" was fabricated or misrepresented. No WMDs were found.

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." — George W. Bush, Mission Accomplished speech, May 1, 2003

The war continued for 8 more years. 4,500 American troops died after that speech. Over 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed. The instability created ISIS.

The Iraq War was about liberation and democracy

Internal planning for the Iraq invasion began November 2001 — before public debate — and proceeded without public knowledge. Halliburton executives met with Cheney's staff to discuss contracts before the war began.

The same fear-selling for Iran — fact-checked with primary sources.

Crisis of Truth: Claim vs Reality on corruption

The revolving door between power and profit.

How It's Done

The Propaganda Machine: WWI to Today

WWI gave us the modern war propaganda template. Nazi Germany studied it. Every administration since has used it. Understanding the mechanics is the first defense against it.

1917 · WWI

Wilson's Committee on Public Information (CPI)

George Creel's government propaganda agency deployed 75,000 "Four Minute Men" across America — trained volunteers who delivered pro-war speeches in movie theaters, churches, and libraries. Newspapers received government-written articles, copyright-free, ready to print. Posters depicted Germans as monsters. First Amendment rights were suspended — dissent led to prison. Creel was hugely successful. And his techniques were later studied by the Nazi propaganda apparatus.

1934 · The Business Plot

Wall Street's Attempted Coup Against FDR

A group of wealthy American businessmen and bankers — documented in U.S. House Committee testimony — allegedly approached General Smedley Butler to lead a fascist takeover of the U.S. government. Butler refused and testified before Congress. The plot was confirmed by a Congressional committee, but most conspirators faced no legal consequences. Prescott Bush — later connected to Nazi banking — was alleged by Harper's Magazine to have been involved.

1942 · WWII

Trading with the Enemy — While Americans Fought

The U.S. government seized assets of Union Banking Corporation under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Director Prescott Bush — grandfather of two U.S. presidents — had transferred funds, gold, coal, and steel to Nazi Germany's war machine through the bank. No charges were filed. The family went on to produce two presidents. Meanwhile, GM's president earned more in 1943 than the combined salaries of the President, Vice President, entire Cabinet, the Supreme Court, the Speaker of the House, and General Eisenhower combined.

1961 · Eisenhower's Warning

"Beware the Military-Industrial Complex"

In his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower — Supreme Allied Commander in WWII — warned America about the growing power of what he called the military-industrial complex: the union of defense contractors, the Pentagon, and Congress. He said its influence was felt "in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government" and warned that "misplaced power" in this complex could endanger liberty and democracy. The warning was ignored.

2001–2003 · Iraq

9/11, the Neocons, and a War That Was Pre-Planned

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld ordered planning for an Iraq invasion in November 2001 — while the Afghan war was still in its first weeks, and without public knowledge. A leaked British memo showed the U.S. was "fixing" intelligence around a predetermined decision. By the time Colin Powell spoke at the UN, the contracts were already being discussed. Halliburton's KBR had a seat at the planning table before a single bomb fell on Baghdad.

Today

The Iran Playbook: Recognize the Pattern

Iran has 60%-enriched uranium — not weapons-grade (90% is needed). There is no confirmed nuclear weapon. Experts say Iran was not close to a deployable bomb. But the headlines say otherwise. The same fear language — mushroom clouds, imminent strikes, existential threats — is being deployed again. The same connected firms are ready. The same playbook. Butler's warning from 1935 is more relevant today than the day he wrote it.

Propaganda Alert: Selective Imagery and Loaded Language

Propaganda works by removing context. Here's the context.

Fear is the product. You are the market.

Who Pays

While They Profit, You Pay — In Money and Blood

War has two ledgers. One is kept in mahogany boardrooms. The other is kept in military cemeteries and VA waiting rooms. The people who decide wars rarely serve in them. The people who fight them rarely profit from them.

The system isn't broken. It's working exactly as designed.

The two economies: theirs and ours.

"No politician should ever have better healthcare than a combat veteran who risked everything for this country."

— A sentiment held by tens of millions of Americans, across party lines

The post-9/11 wars cost $8 trillion. Nearly 900,000 people died in direct conflict. 38 million were displaced. And when the last veteran came home, the VA was underfunded, the wait lists were years long, and Halliburton was building its new headquarters.

Butler wrote it in 1935: the profits of war go to a handful of corporations and investors. The costs — in lives, in debt, in broken bodies — are distributed across millions of working families who had no vote in the decision.

That arrangement has not changed. The names have changed. The number of zeros has changed. The arrangement has not.

No politician should have better healthcare than a combat veteran

Media Literacy

How to Recognize War Propaganda Before It Sells You a War

The same techniques that sold WWI are being used today. They work because most people never learned to recognize them. Here's what to look for.

If you believe this, this is not your fault — the deliberate dumbing down of America

Critical thinking was removed from education deliberately.

Know the playbook. See it in real time.

When you hear words like "imminent threat," "weapons of mass destruction," "they hate our freedom," or "we must act now before it's too late" — those are the four phrases that sold every major American war of the last century. Ask: who profits if this war happens? Who is funding the voices calling for it? What do the primary intelligence documents actually say — not the summary, the actual documents?

Primary Sources & Further Investigation

Butler, Smedley D. — War Is a Racket (1935)
CorpWatch — Cheney, Halliburton and the Spoils of War
CBS News — Halliburton Whistleblower on $7B No-Bid Contract
History News Network — Bush's Grandfather and Nazi Ties (Guardian)
Britannica — Prescott S. Bush biography
Kyiv Independent — American Chips Reaching Russian Arms Makers
PolitiFact — Halliburton/KBR Iraq Contracting: A History
U.S. Senate Nye Committee Hearings — 1934 (Munitions Industry Investigation)
Iraq Survey Group Final Report — 2004 (WMDs in Iraq)
Brown University Costs of War Project — $8 Trillion War Costs
U.S. House Special Committee on Un-American Activities — Business Plot, 1934
U.S. National Archives — Trading with the Enemy Act Records, 1942
DOJ — KBR Guilty Plea, Foreign Bribery, February 11, 2009

The Real Cost — Closer to Home

They Send Your Children. They Don't Send Theirs.

Before you decide how you feel about the next war they're selling, ask yourself one question: whose kids go? The ones demanding the war, or yours?

Of the 535 members of Congress who voted to authorize the Iraq War, fewer than 10 had children serving in the military. The people who send soldiers to war almost never send their own families. That is not an accident. That is a system.

When They Come Home

How America Treats Its Veterans

After the parades end

The VA backlog at its peak had over 900,000 pending disability claims — veterans waiting years for care they were promised
An estimated 22 veterans die by suicide every day in the United States — roughly one every 65 minutes
Hundreds of thousands of veterans have experienced homelessness after returning from service
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and PTSD affect hundreds of thousands of post-9/11 veterans — many still waiting for proper diagnosis and treatment
The Burn Pit Registry documents veterans sickened by toxic exposure — the government fought compensation claims for years before the PACT Act forced action in 2022
Meanwhile Halliburton/KBR — which built and operated many of those burn pits — collected $39.5 billion in Iraq contracts

VA Inspector General Reports DOD Suicide Prevention Report PACT Act, 2022

The Contrast

Who Got Rich. Who Got Sick.

Two very different outcomes from the same war

Dick Cheney left the Iraq War with $35 million from Halliburton stock options and ongoing deferred compensation — while veterans fought for disability claims
KBR executives received performance bonuses while auditors documented billions in overcharges — while soldiers developed cancers from burn pits KBR operated
Defense contractor shareholders saw record returns throughout the war — while military families received "thank you for your service" and a flag
The soldiers who fought did so believing in the mission. The people who sent them knew the intelligence was flawed — and sent them anyway.
Gen. Butler put it plainly: "The general gets 4 months' pay, a pension for life — the private gets nothing but wounds and a pension of $30 per month if he's lucky."

Butler, War Is a Racket, 1935 Center for Public Integrity DOJ / KBR Burn Pit Litigation

"No politician should ever have better healthcare than a combat veteran who risked everything for this country."

— A sentiment held by tens of millions of Americans, across every political line

Follow the Money — The Full Picture

Everything Is a Rich Man's Trick

This documentary argues — with named people, named companies, and documented financial records — that modern history is not driven by chance or ideology. It is driven by whoever profits. You do not have to accept every conclusion. You do have to acknowledge the documented facts it presents.

Documentary

JFK to 9/11: Everything Is a Rich Man's Trick

A comprehensive look at who profits from war, debt, and political instability — from WWII through JFK through 9/11. Over 28 million views. Make up your own mind — but check the primary sources below before you dismiss it.

The Core Argument

The Documented Facts Behind It

War is not driven by ideology or "bad leaders" — it is driven by whoever profits from it

Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address warned explicitly about the military-industrial complex gaining "unwarranted influence." It is archived at the National Archives. archives.gov

Defense contractors, politicians, and intelligence agencies became financially intertwined — endless conflict became more profitable than peace

Brown University's Costs of War Project documents $8 trillion spent on post-9/11 wars. OpenSecrets documents defense industry spending $144M lobbying Congress in 2010 alone. brown.edu/costsofwar

Corporate media is owned by the same financial interests that benefit from war — narratives are shaped to maintain public consent

The CIA's Operation Mockingbird — using journalists as intelligence assets — is a declassified historical fact, not a theory. CIA reading room documents are publicly available. CIA Reading Room

After 9/11: trillions spent on war, civil liberties reduced, defense and surveillance industries exploded in profit

All documented. Defense contract spending data is public via Statista and USAspending.gov. The PATRIOT Act's surveillance provisions are documented by the ACLU. ACLU

Wars create debt. Debt creates control. Nations and citizens pay interest upward while public services are cut.

The U.S. has paid trillions in interest on war debt since 2001. Watson Institute projects interest costs alone on post-9/11 wars will exceed $6.5 trillion by 2050. Watson Institute

Primary Sources — Check Everything

You do not have to accept every conclusion blindly.
You do have to acknowledge documented facts.
Check the sources. Follow the money. Confirm the facts.

War Is A Racket:Who Profits While Soldiers Die