Military Lobbyists Brag About Getting Presidential Candidates to Favor War

An email to supporters disclosed in early December shows a group formed this year by defense industry higher-ups and their lobbyists congratulating itself for getting Republican presidential candidates to demand the escalation of U.S. military action in Syria.

Lee Fang reports at The Intercept:

[…] Mike Rogers, the founder of Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security [APPS], hailed the group for “pushing candidates on national security.”

He illustrated the group’s impact with “highlights from many of our Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire forums showcasing the candidates’ views on defeating ISIS.”

From Ben Carson at an APPS forum in Dubuque, Iowa: “We also need to decide, in terms of these radical jihadists, what do we want to do? Do we want to contain them or do we want to destroy them? I vote for the latter, because you know they want to destroy us and there is no such thing as containing people like that.”

From Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at an APPS forum in Charleston: “I am sick and tired of hearing people on my side avoid the idea of an American ground component.”

Mike Huckabee told an APPS forum in Greenville: “We should have been running hundreds, if not thousands, of A-10 Warthogs busting every time a truck with supplies was on its way to ISIS soldiers.”

As Fang previously reported: “APPS was formed by current and former officials from Raytheon, BAE Systems, SAIC, and other major defense contractors. Lobbyists who represent the defense industry are also involved. Rogers, the former House Intelligence Committee chairman who retired from Congress last year, also represents private clients, though he has refused to disclose them.”

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.