by Stephen Lendman

No nation does more harm to more people worldwide than America. None for over a longer period of time.

None match its horrendous human rights record. None its barbarity. None its lawlessness. None more threatening to humanity.

The business of America is war. Permanent war is official US policy.

Hawks infest Washington. They're on both sides of the aisle. Most Democrats are as warrior-like as Republicans.

They deplore peace. They want greater than ever amounts for war-making.

America's defense budget far exceeds annually budgeted National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amounts. Last December, Congress approved nearly $633 billion.

It authorized spending for the FY October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014. It's the tip of the iceberg.

Hundreds of billions of dollars more are spent annually. Categories include Departments of State, Treasury, Energy, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, NASA, as well as enormous black budgets and hidden add-ons.

Over $1.5 trillion goes annually for so-called defense. Congressional hawks want more.

Former Massachusetts governor/presidential aspirant/venture capital predator Mitt Romney perhaps spoke for them.

On September 4, he headlined a Washington Post op-ed "The need for a mighty US military," saying:

"Russia invades, China bullies, Iran spins centrifuges, the Islamic State ('a terrorist threat beyond anything that we’ve seen,' according to the defense secretary) threatens - and Washington slashes the military."

Fact check:

So-called military spending cuts are more smoke and mirrors than real. Military Keynesianism remains official US policy.

Sequestration cuts barely touched defense authorizations. America spends more on militarism and related categories than the rest of the world combined.

Massive Pentagon waste, fraud and grand theft persists. It's longstanding. It represents a black hole of unaccountability.

Sweetheart deals, bribes and kickbacks are commonplace. So is routine contractor over-billing. Taxpayers foot the bill.

It's epic in total. Doctored Pentagon ledgers conceal it. Trillions of dollars are wasted, stolen, misappropriated or otherwise misused.

Since 1996 alone, DOD was never held accountable for $8.5 trillion. On September 10, 2001, then Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said:

"According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."

It's multiple times more than this. It's unaccounted for trillions down a black hole. It comes at the expense of vital homeland needs gone begging.

It's for the wrong reasons. It's for ravaging one country after another. It's for genocidal high crimes against peace.

It's for humanity-threatening wars without mercy. It's for making the world safe for monied interests. It's not enough, said Romney.

"It is said that the first rule of wing-walking is to not let go with one hand until the other hand has a firm grip," he wrote.

"So, too, before we jettison our reliance on US strength, there must be something effective in its place - if such a thing is even possible."

"There are those who claim that a multipolar world is preferable to one led by a strong United States."

"Were these other poles nations such as Australia, Canada, France and Britain, I might concur."

"But with emerging poles being China, Russia and Iran, the world would not see peace; it would see bullying, invasion and regional wars."

Fact check:

Hawks like Romney deplore multi-world polarity. They want America having a divine right to rule. To interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

To replace independent leaders with pro-Western stooges. To achieve unchallenged global dominance. To wage war on humanity to assure it.

To mass murder and destroy with impunity. To destroy nations to save them. To risk mass annihilation in the process.

"Some argue that the United States should simply withdraw its military strength from the world - get out of the Middle East, accept nuclear weapons in Iran and elsewhere, let China and Russia have their way with their neighbors and watch from the sidelines as jihadists storm on two or three continents," said Romney.

Fact check:

Millions of Middle East corpses attest to America's barbarity. It turned regional countries into cauldrons of violence, unspeakable human misery, deprivation and despair.

"The history of the 20th century teaches that power-hungry tyrants ultimately feast on the appeasers," said Romney

Fact check:

History teaches that America exceeds the ruthlessness of all previous "power-hungry" tyrannical countries.

"Some insist that our military is already so much stronger than that of any other nation that we can safely cut it back, again and again," Romney claimed.

Fact check:

America's military is an out-of-control monster. It's a beast threatening humanity's survival.

"…Russia’s nuclear arsenal is significantly greater than our own and that, within six years, China will have more ships in its navy than we do. China already has more service members," said Romney.

Fact check:

China and Russia don't threaten America. Nor its neighbors or other countries.

America and Russia have over 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. And delivery systems able to strike targets worldwide with precision accuracy.

Obama's 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) "reserves the right" to use them preemptively. It does so without cause, justification or consequences.

It removes the distinction between defensive and offensive deterrents.

It prioritizes having a state-of-the-art destructive triad. It includes sea-based strategic bombers, land-based missiles, and ballistic missile submarines.

Its grand plan includes waging future wars from space.

It maintains robust research, development, and industrial infrastructure. It continues to develop, build, and deploy hugely destructive offensive and defensive systems.

They exceed deterrent. At issue is resource control and unchallenged global dominance.

"Further, our military is tasked with many more missions than those of other nations: preserving the freedom of the seas, the air and space; combating radical jihadists; and preserving order and stability around the world as well as defending the United States," said Romney.

Fact check:

It bears repeating. America wages war on humanity. Its mission is making the world safe for monied interests.

Mass slaughter, destruction and unspeakable human misery are small prices to pay.

"Freedom and peace are in the balance," Romney claims.

Fact check:

America deplores peace. It prioritizes war. It's waging it on freedom globally.

For Romney, it's a choice between "continued military hollowing or…honor(ing) (a) constitutional pledge to protect the United States."

Fact check:

America's constitutional obligation to "defend" America excludes naked aggression against nonthreatening countries.

Romney wants America's military made more of a monster than already. So do most Republicans and Democrats. Humanity's fate hangs in the balance.

A Final Comment

On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said destabilization in Ukraine "created a huge funnel, and the vortex flows in this funnel are now sucking in both Russia and us."

"It’s Uncle Sam overseas who is pushing us into this slaughter. And let’s be frank: many politicians in Ukraine are fulfilling his orders."

"Americans won't fight there. They want us to get killed with our own hands."

They want others to do their killing and dying for them whenever possible. It's the American way.

It reflects shocking contempt for rule of law principles, democratic values and peace.

Advancing America's imperium alone matters. Let the devil take the hindmost.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

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