The US spends WAY too much on the business of war

I've written of this before, to be honest.

We spend 711 billion dollars a year on war (defense spending).

We more than double the 2nd-place spender in defense spending.

It's insanity.

We're building tanks, planes and bombs for almost no reason.

At some point, don't we have enough?

Check out these statistics:

"The extent of the U.S. global empire is almost incalculable. The latest 'Base Structure Report' of the Department of Defense states that the Department’s physical assets consist of "more than 600,000 individual buildings and structures, at more than 6,000 locations, on more than 30 million acres." The exact number of locations is then given as 6,702 – divided into large installations (115), medium installations (115), and small installations/locations (6,472). This classification can be deceiving, however, because installations are only classified as small if they have a Plant Replacement Value (PRV) of less than $800 million."

More:

"Although most of these locations are in the continental United States, 96 of them are in U.S. territories around the globe, and 702 of them are in foreign countries. But as Chalmers Johnson has documented, the figure of 702 foreign military installations is too low, for it does not include installations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan. Johnson estimates that an honest count would be closer to 1,000."

"The number of countries that the United States has a presence in is staggering. According the U.S. Department of State’s list of "Independent States in the World," there are 192 countries in the world, all of which, except Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, have diplomatic relations with the United States. All of these countries except one (Vatican City) are members of the United Nations. According to the Department of Defense publication, "Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths by Regional Area and by Country," the United States has troops in 135 countries."

Keep in mind, too, that the statistics above come from reports in or before 2004, before "W" escalated our spending so grossly on war and our mercenaries of war (read: Blackwater or whatever they're called now and all the rest).

The conclusion?

The United States of America has become a war-monger.

We love the business of war, for industry, and as a people, we need to stand up and say "enough".

President Eisenhower would be squarely behind us on this.

Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance8.html