Transcript of RT-TV interview of Dave Lindorff by RT’s Caleb Maupin:
Maupin: Why does the Department of Defense have so much excess gear that it needs to unload, anyway?
Lindorff: The US has been involved in so many wars, they become occupations, and the military has developed techniques for operating as an occupying army, and they’ve brought these home. They’ve brought the war home.
After they buy these things, and the military you know uses some of them, they become surplus, or if they don’t buy them all, you know the military orders a certain number and then they back out of buying some of it so a lot of the stuff ends up sitting military warehouses. And so they want to get rid of ’em.
And basically Congress passed a law saying that these things are to be given to police departments. So we have the ridiculous situation where small towns are being given MRAPS — they’re totally impractical, they make any sense — they’re terribly intimidating though, and that’s part of the purpose, I guess.