In a famous exchange, in the 1990s, Madeleine Albright demanded of General Colin Powell, "What's the point of having this superb military that you're always talking about if we can't use it?" Well, the U.S. is using that military all over the world and has constructed an empire of more than 700 bases. Not only that, the Pentagon operates a ski and vacation center in the Bavarian Alps and 234 golf courses worldwide. A fleet of luxury jets ferry the top brass to R&R sites. The operations of the military-industrial complex is under the radar of most people. There is far more information, if one could call it that, on Jon Benet Ramsey than there is on what Seymour Melman called "the permanent war economy."

Andrew Bacevich, a graduate of West Point and a Vietnam War veteran, is Professor of International Relations at Boston University. He is the author of American Empire. His latest book is The New American Militarism.