The War Machine

Cover art for Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.#33.
Art by Adi Granov. Marvel Comics.

War Machine (James Rupert Rhodes) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero from the Marvel Comics universe. The character first appeared in Iron Man #118 (January 1979). Jim Rhodes, who became War Machine was introduced by David Michelinie and Bob Layton. The War Machine armor and character was designed by Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood.

James "Rhodey" Rhodes as the War Machine is one of the good guys, unlike the real war machine, the global arms manufacturers and the military-industrial complex.

Quote from President Dwight Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell address:
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

[The following is an excerpt from stopthewarmachine.org]

In his 1961 Farewell address President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of a rogue military-industrial complex (MIC). Ike said the post-World War II MIC had the potential to destroy our democracy and world peace.

We look around at the loss of our civil liberties, rising inequality and the wars we fight abroad every year with our huge one-and-a-half million military forces that are stationed on every continent and in every ocean and it appears Eisenhower was correct. No other county spends as much of its wealth on the war machine as us. No other country has a global military presence that even begins to match ours.

Why do we need such a large a standing army? Some people suggest we had a military coup in our country hidden behind the '50s Cold War rhetoric and that now the war on terrorism is being used to create a global empire for the MIC.

Bob Anderson for the Committee to Stop the War Machine 2/21/03

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