Professional armies have often been considered a threat to their own societies. It was one of Frederick the Great's own officers who described Prussia "as an army with a state, in which it was temporarily quartered, so to speak". The French revolutionary statesman Mirabeau said that "war is Prussia's national industry". Considering the portion of the US national budget that is now consumed by the Pentagon, much the same could be said of the United States. --- The new army also has political ambitions. - It now dominates US foreign relations with a thousand bases worldwide and regional commanders like imperial proconsuls. -- Both General McChrystal and his superior, General David H Petraeus, have been mentioned as future presidential candidates. - The last general who became American president was Dwight Eisenhower. He is the one who warned Americans against "the military-industrial complex".