Morning Read: Harper's Takes on Burlington F-35 Basing

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Friday, June 7, 2013

F-35 Morning Read: Harper's Takes on Burlington F-35 Basing

Posted By Paul Heintz on Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 9:17 AM

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First came the Boston Globe. Now comes Harper's.

Writing on the magazine's new Heart of Empire blog, Harper's contributor Andrew Cockburn has a tough new assessment of the Air Force's proposed basing of F-35 fighter jets in Vermont, casting the cities of South Burlington and Winooski as victims of Eisenhower's famed "military-industrial-congressional complex." (In the final version of his farewell address, Cockburn explains, Ike took out the word "congressional" so as not to piss off his pals.)

Cockburn, it seems, is no fan of the F-35, writing that it "encapsulates in one airframe the full flowering of bloat, corruption and decay attendant to the defense system."

Nor does he think much of the liberal Vermont politicians who support it.

"While Senators Leahy and Sanders, Congressman Peter Welch, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin, and Burlington mayor Miro Weinberger have belied their purportedly progressive principles in bringing in the F-35's, local citizens have fought back," he writes.

Unlike Brian Bender's piece in the Globe two months ago, Cockburn's piece doesn't include much in the way of new reporting, but if you want to get all riled up about the F-35 or the dreaded military-industrial-congressional complex, you should give it a read here.

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About The Author

Paul Heintz

Bio:
Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.