$716,000,000,000

POSTED AUGUST 2, 2018

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Pres. Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe (WWII)

There is no other way to say it.  The bipartisan 2019 defense budget making its way through Congress is an obscenity. This year's (2018's) budget ($700 billion) represented the biggest year-over-year windfall since the budget soared by 26.6 percent, from $345 billion in 2002 to $437 billion the year after, when the nation was fighting in Afghanistan, invading Iraq and expanding national defense after the 9/11 attacks.  And still the Pentagon wants more.  So strong is militarism embedded in the national psyche, that Congress and the President vie to give the military-industrial complex whatever it wants, sometimes more than it asks for, and always many times more than it needs.  The 2019 budget includes money for the modernization of our nuclear weapons systems and money for the most expensive failure in US military budget history, the F-35.

President Eisenhower was speaking in the years before Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare, or he could have added "those who are sick and are not treated" to the list of thefts.  Besides attempting again to defund Obamacare, the House GOP 2019 domestic budget proposal cuts trillions over the next decade from programs vital to the well-being of our citizens - particularly the poor, the sick and the elderly.  The Hill, reporting on June 19:

The budget "would cut mandatory domestic spending by $5.4 trillion over a decade, including $537 billion in cuts to Medicare and $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other health programs. On Medicare, the budget would move towards a system of private health insurance plans competing with one other, rather than the current open-ended, government-provided Medicare system. On Medicaid, the budget would impose new caps that could lead to cuts in payments over time. The budget also sets up a fast-track process known as reconciliation that could allow ObamaCare repeal to pass without Democratic votes in the Senate...

“The 2019 Republican budget scraps any sense of responsibility to the American people and any obligation to being honest. Its repeal of the Affordable Care Act and extreme cuts to health care, retirement security, anti-poverty programs, education, infrastructure, and other critical investments are real and will inflict serious harm on American families,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), the ranking member on the House Budget committee."

With the largest military budget in the world and more than double those of Russia and China combined, one must wonder what use these weapons will be put to.  With no nation capable of attacking the United States and no terrorist group that will be deterred by monstrous amounts of military hardware, the appalling answer might be another US war of aggression.  The Trump target of the moment is Iran.  Rouhani's brave words promising resistance to invaders in a protracted guerrilla war are misplaced.  The US will not use the Iraq fiasco as its model if it attacks Iran.  There will be no US "boots on the ground" - I can't imagine what lies the Administration and its neocon advisers would have to tell to make this acceptable to the American people.  

No.  The attack, if it does come, will be through the air - more like the utter devastation wreaked on the Gaza Strip by Israel in 2014 or like the Saudi-led air war in Yemen which has resulted in our greatest current humanitarian crisis.  What makes the US even more culpable is that the Saudis and Israelis are the US' top recipients of military aid and weapon sales.  They are also enemies of Iran and, witnessing what they have done to Gaza and Yemen, would participate in Iran's destruction without qualms.  

The most likely scenario for this war of aggression would be a provoked or manufactured incident that would result in a massive over-reaction by the US and its Middle East allies.  The air attacks would be  aimed at Iran's infrastructure and its naval capabilities.   Iran has no air power or air defenses to speak of and the allies will suffer few if any casualties

The humanitarian crisis that would ensue in Iran is, for now, unimaginable.   

Trump, his Middle East allies pushing him towards war with Iran, and his neocon advisers have no respect for international law.*  Whether they have no consciences as well remains to be seen. 

.*And woe to anyone who disagrees with belligerent allies. An August 1, 2018 article in The Intercept reports that Rex Tillerson's efforts to stop a Saudi invasion of Qatar last summer may have been the act that ultimately cost him his job at State.