Mokhiber: You opened the briefing on Wednesday by offering the President’s best wishes to the U.S. Marine Corps on its 229th birthday. Are you familiar with the life of Major General Smedley Butler?

Scott McLellan: No, I’m not –

Mokhiber: He was probably the most decorated Marine Corps Major General.

He was given two Congressional Medals of Honor.

And in 1935, he wrote a book – and this is an unusual title for a Marine Corps General who has been around the world – titled War Is a Racket – in which he argued that “war is a racket – and it always has been.” He said that in his 33 years with the Marines he was a “high class muscleman for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”

Now this is a guy who had a decorated career as a Marine Corps Major General.

And I’m wondering if you agree with him generally, that “war is a racket and it always has been”?

Scott McLellan: I just addressed that when I said that I’m not familiar with this particular individual or his situation.

I would say that we should always view war as a last resort. And that’s what this President does. We should always make sure that is a last resort. It is not something that the President goes into making a decision about lightly.

At the same time he is committed to doing everything he can to protect the American people and make America more secure from the threats we face in this day and age and there are some very dangerous threats that we face. That’s the President’s view.

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-Thanks to Russell Mokhiber

White House reporter Russell Mokhiber is the editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter - www.corporatecrimereporter.com. He co-authors the weekly Focus on the Corporation column with Robert Weissman which Common Dreams publishes. He can be reached at: russell@nationalpress.com