The Hawks’ Feast: How War Became Britain’s Primary Export

In the waning moments of his presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower—a five-star general who understood war’s true cost—delivered a prophetic warning that haunts us today. Standing before a nation still flush with post-war optimism, he spoke of an emerging “military-industrial complex” that could threaten the very democracy it claimed to protect. His words were not a caution, but a funeral dirge for democratic accountability.

Of course, the Industrial arms complex is now global, its influence dictating decisions made in governments around the world. Threats of war, even rumours of war can send their relative corporations shares rocketing in a very literal sense creating billions in profit without even a shot fired.

The withdrawal of the US military from war-torn Afghanistan has been widely seen as a failure in politics. However, analysts pointed out that the 20-year war means rather an “extraordinary success” for the American Military-Industrial Complex (AMIC) composed of private arms dealers, lobbyists and Pentagon’s officials who perpetuated war and got immense profits from the attacks.

The American independent think tank Security Policy Reform Institute (SPRI) recently released a list of the top beneficiaries from the Afghanistan War, which includes well-known US military contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

Experts pointed out that from Iraq to Syria and Afghanistan, the US military-industrial complex, fueled by huge economic lure, has created an enemy target – it is the Threate and the Threate is whatever they determine it to be.

Look now at Britain’s Ukraine funding: £3 billion annually, with another £2.3 billion drawn from frozen Russian assets. The latest announcement? £7.5 million for attack and surveillance drones, as if precision murder is a line item in a bureaucratic spreadsheet.

Meanwhile, farmers sell their land, pensioners shiver without fuel allowance, and children become calculable economic burdens.

The hawks must be fed, and feed they shall.

This is not foreign policy. This is industrial warfare as economic model—a grotesque alchemy turning human suffering into corporate profit. Eisenhower warned us that the “potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” We are living his nightmare.

Every drone launched, every missile dispatched, represents not just a geopolitical strategy, but a transfer of national wealth from social infrastructure to corporate military contractors. The real currency here is not national security, but shareholder value.

There’s a notable absence at the negotiating table—a deafening silence from our supposed progressive leaders. Starmer, Lammy, and their ilk play war games with working-class lives, content to watch children die in muddy trenches while corporate executives sip cocktails on Mauritian beaches. Their moral bankruptcy is complete.

The irony is crushing: I find myself waiting for Trump—a man I’ve never supported—to potentially fulfil a promise of peace. That this is our current reality speaks volumes about the bankruptcy of our political establishment.

Eisenhower’s final warning rings with terrifying clarity: we must never let the weight of this immense military establishment endanger our liberties or democratic processes. Yet here we are—precisely where he feared we might become.

Peace is not the absence of war. It is the presence of justice, of dialogue, of human dignity, and the saving of lives. Our current trajectory suggests we’ve forgotten this most fundamental truth. The hawks are always hungry. And we are always paying the bill.

Let’s face it, forever wars go on forever…

Paul Knaggs

Editor, founder, Labour Heartlands, Citizen journalist. LeFT wing political refugee. Fighting a constant struggle with dyslexia that’s overcome with a burning desire to speak out against the corrupt political system and the social injustices it creates. Advocate for Free speech and open, accountable, democracy. #GTTO