War is a racket

War is a racket. It always has been. 

U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler explains:

"[War] 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."

"A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the 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 very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html