America War-Oil Salesman to the World

For decades, America has been the self-proclaimed hero on the world stage. In some cases, we were heroes fighting the good fight, like in WWII. In other cases, we thought we were doing the right thing which resulted in unwanted or unforeseen consequences, like Afghanistan and Vietnam. The U.S. has played a significant role in almost every war either by direct or indirect involvement. America's military spending in 2006 accounted for 48% of all the military spending in the world, which is sure to rise as spending increases in Iraq. That means one country spends as much as all other countries combined on war. Also, we are historically the top seller of arms in the world, although the UK may surpass the U.S. in 2008.

There are several programs under which the U.S. supplies military aid to other countries. There are two basic types of assistance, aid and sales. The aid programs include the Foreign Military Funding program (FMF), Economic Support Fund (ESF), International Military Education and Training (IMET) and Counter Narcotics Assistance (CNA). Under the FMF the U.S. has spent $121 billion from 1950 to 2005 in the form of military aid to foreign nations.

The sales programs include the Foreign Military Sales program (FMS), Direct Commercial Sales (DCS), and the Excess Defense Articles (EDA). The US has been selling arms amounting to more than $200 billion since 1992. Taxpayers are subsidizing more than half the amount of these sales and the rest goes back into the Pentagon Defense Fund whose spending is not transparent or fully accounted for. At a rate of about $15 billion per year, arms sales would rank among the top U.S. exports.

Where is the money going? Most of our military aid and sales go to Israel, which thanks to us, has the third largest and well-equipped military in the world. Supposedly the U.S. has the most well-equipped military but if that's the case, then why didn't our soldiers in Iraq have well-shielded tanks and adequate body armor? Israel's army, by contrast has the most sophisticated indestructable tanks in the world. Even more disturbing is Israel is turning around and selling their own versions of our weapons and technology to hostile countries and to China who sells technology to Iran and other potential threats to the U.S. Taxpayers are subsidizing weapons transfer to Israel who is turning a profit on the arrangement at our expense. Why are we spending so much money on defense and military aid to other countries while shortchanging our own soldiers on body armor, shielding for humvees, second-rate medical facilities, low pay, cheating them out of proper post-war treatment and benefits, and shoddy electrical wiring which has killed soldiers while they were showering in Iraq? When Bush and Cheney say "Support the troops", they really mean support the business of war because that is what they care about more than the troops.

The defense budget is being spent very irresponsibly. Large sums are going to big-ticket items, such as nuclear subs, long-range missiles, costly fighter planes, and other items that have no use or relevance to the Iraq war. The Bush administration has been particularly irresponsible in giving aid to undemocratic nations with poor human rights records and $5.7 billion in arms deals to poorer developing countries in which the majority of citizens live in poverty or have significant national debt. Although sometimes necessary, supplying foreign nations has a track record of creating more problems than solutions. In the 80's weapons we sold to Iran ended up in the hands of our adversaries, Iraq and Panama. In the last seven major conflicts America has fought in, enemy combatants were using our own weapons against us that we had traded to other countries. We covertly provided Afghanistan with missiles to fight the Soviets and failed to follow up with significant humanitarian aid, which resulted in Afghanistan becoming overrun by extremists and breeding ground for terrorism. In the most recent example, Georgia, who we have supplied militarily used the help we gave them to attack Russian territory and provoke them into an all out offensive against Georgian civilians, oil supply, and infrastructure. And how much has our aid to Israel over the years contributed to Islamic Radicalist hatred of the U.S.? Israel is probably not going to go to war with us for not supporting them, but radical Islamists will go to war with us for supporting them. What are the benefits to funding military and war all over the world and do the benefits really outweigh the risks?

These policies only benefit a few people and companies, while creating hardship for most everyone else, including economic hardship for American companies outside of the military industry. Those benefitting from war have a strong financial interest in convincing everyone that war is necessary, even if that involves using politics, fear, propaganda, and hiding the truth in order to maintain public support. This is what we very clearly saw the Bush adminstration do to promote the Iraq War. Bush and Cheney are not the only politicians who are influenced by the military industrial complex. War is big business and the majority (62%) of Weapons Industry campaign contributions in 2004 went to Republican candidates, while 38% went to Democratic candidates. Pentagon contracts almost doubled to $80 billion in contracts in 2003. Dick Cheney's company, Halliburton had the highest increase in awarded contracts from $500 million to $8 billion in contracts in 2004, a whopping 1600% increase and rising. Halliburton contributed 86% of its campaign donations to Republican candidates in 2004. No wonder the Republicans want to keep us at war or at least keep war going somewhere in the world. They are in deep in the pockets of the military industrial complex and weapons industry, most of whom would lose money if terrorism and drug cartels did not exist or if there were no wars going on.

To make matters worse, Bush has appointed at least 32 executives from top Pentagon Contractors to top policymaking positions in the Pentagon. Not only did he sell us the war on behalf of the Contractors, he put them in charge of it! It is to their economic advantage to prolong a war, and to their disadvantage to win, or otherwise end a war. No doubt, the policies they help to implement are designed to reduce the possibility of peaceful solutions to conflict.

We have got to stop selling war to the world, stop funding conflict, and stop letting the military industrial complex with their politician puppets call the shots. If we continue on this path, we lose lives, respect, economic security, education, and trillions of dollars that could be spent on making America and the rest of the world better, instead of worse. Most importantly, we have to stop the selling out of our children's and grandchildren's futures for the economic benefit of a few people who care nothing about our well-being or security.

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

www.worldpolicy.org

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/21/armstrade.saudiarabia

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0509-07.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0525-04.htm

Whatever happened to being a Good Samaritan?

An elderly man was hit by a car and the people watching didn't go help him or try to stop traffic. People watched and drove by as he lied in the street, paralyzed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4zAh3-HEE


There's a new trend for people to who witness a crime or see someone in danger to just stand there and not do anything. They don't want to get involved or are afraid of being sued or being subpoenaed into court. This is really sad. Whatever happened to being a good samaritan, to helping out a person in need, especially an elderly person?

Getting involved does not mean you have to go to court or deal with a lawsuit. There is a law that deals with this exact issue, which protects people who are acting as good samaritans. In the case of the elderly man, maybe you don't know first aid or cpr, but you could at least try to stop the traffic or get him out of harm's way. You could save someone's life or bring justice to a victim by just taking a few minutes to do the right thing. If you find yourself in this situation, remember, maybe you are there for a reason.

The deeper issue here is a lack of compassion in our society. There is so much pain and suffering that we see every day, that when we allow ourselves to care, it's overwhelming and unbearable. We feel helpless because the problems are so big and so many that there is nothing we can do to make an impact, so we cut ourselves off from caring and try to ignore what is unpleasant. Buddists teach that compassion is a virtue and should be cultivated. I am not a Buddist, but I believe this to be a universal truth. Even one small positive act can have huge impact on a person and can create a ripple effect that inspires other people to act.

I believe that in life we are given opportunities to serve and lift up others. If we let those opportunites pass by without acting, we may never realize the potential for good that we possess.