America Can’t Win a War, but This Republican Wants to Give $55 Billion More to the Pentagon

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart 

Watchdog groups claim that fifty cents out of every dollar received by the Pentagon annually is wasted. It was clear during the George W. Bush Administration that the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq helped the Bush family, Dick Cheney, and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz become multi-billionaires.  

“War is good business.” Investing in the military industrial complex makes billionaires out of millionaires.  

THE UNITED STATES MILITARY IS POWERFUL, AND FUNDED FIVE-TIMES MORE THAN ALL OTHER NAITONS COMBINED 

The annual budget of our nation’s military is nearing one-trillion dollars per year. This, combined with the fact that this amount is five-times more than all other nation’s combined should guarantee victory in any military conflict, large or small. So, let’s look at history. 

The Korean Conflict occurred between Jun 25, 1950 – Jul 27, 1953. When the conflict ended, there was no winner. There was “an end to hostilities,” but no truce and no treaty exists today.  

In fact, the United States was the loser.  

[An estimated 37,000 Americans died, over 92,000 were wounded, and 8,000 went missing. The war also cost the US an estimated $20 billion, with military spending more than doubling over the course of the conflict.] 

The war in Southeast Asia, known as the Vietnam War, began in 1955. It escalated in the early 1960’s with a heavy American participation. 

In 1975 our military left in disgrace. It was clearly a defeat for America’s military.  

An estimated 58,132 Americans died in Vietnam. More than 150,000 were wounded, and 21,000. were permanently disabled. The financial cost to American taxpayers was between 168 and 823 billion dollars. 

The war in Iraq was more accurately an invasion. It began in 2003 under false pretenses, and officially ended in 2011, although some of our nation’s military remain.  

4,492 American lives were lost, and 32,292 were injured. The economic cost remains between 1.6 trillion and three trillion dollars. It is unclear because “W” refused to include the cost of the war in his national budget: government secrecy. 

The war in Afghanistan began in 2001 and ended in 2021. When Bush ordered the invasion. he told the American people that the purpose was to capture or kill the architect of the 9/11 attacks on America, Osama bin Laden. However, after he was killed at his compound in Pakistan, our military forces remained until August of 2021. 

Approximately 2,400 lives were lost, and the economic cost exceeded eight trillion dollars.  

OUR GOVERNMENT LOVES WAR MORE THAN PEACE 

It began with Reagan in 1981. He favored giving our military brass any amount of money they requested. In 2024, they received $825 billion. 

However, Republican Senator from Mississippi, Roger Wicker, age 72, believes that the Pentagon needs more money to waste. He is proposing an additional 55 billion dollars based on what he calls “an organized attack from Russia, China, and Iran.” 

I ask a simple question: isn’t it time for the leaders of our military to abandon programs which are failing instead of continuing to spend additional tax dollars on weapons and polices which continue to fail, some over decades? 

AMERICA RANKS LAST IN QUALITY OF LIFE. 

A study shows that our country ranks last in “quality of life for its people” among all developed nations.  

Income inequality is a growing problem with more than one-half of all Americans struggling in the low-income demographic, or below the poverty line.  

Great nations place their people in priority number one. America’s priorities are profits for big business, and funding for a huge military which continues to lose on the battlefield. 

Our nation’s 34th president and one of its greatest military leaders. Dwight D. Eisenhower, warned our nation’s people about the growth of the military industrial complex during his exit address to America. No one listened, not even his own party. 

Common sense is non-existent in Washington, and among far too many of our nation’s people. 

Op-ed by James Turnage 

Please tell everyone to follow my blog: “TheWiseOldFart,” because the truth lives here 

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Source: https://apnews.com/article/us-military-spending-pentagon-china-russia-iran-1af566ecfca060ce3042b23d9feb2438