The Stephen Lendman Blog<\/p>\n
According to analysis by the Watson International & Public Affairs (WIPA):<\/p>\n
Post-the 9\/11 mother of all state-sponsored false flags to that time, hegemon USA spent over $14 trillion for perpetual war-making through FY 2022.<\/p>\n
More below on what\u2019s hidden from public view.<\/p>\n
The true cost of US military Keynesianism \u2014 what\u2019s falsely called national defense spending \u2014 is much higher than the above figure.<\/p>\n
It includes what\u2019s spent for intelligence, so-called homeland security, interest on the national debt for what\u2019s military related, as well as for monstrously large open-checkbook black budgets and related categories.<\/p>\n
With all of the above combined, what the empire of lies spends for militarism, forever wars and to enrich its merchants of death is at least double what annual NDAA legislation authorizes.<\/p>\n
In February 2018, Project Censored reported an estimated $21 trillion gone missing from the federal budget throughout the 1998 \u2013 2015 period, countless trillions more since then.<\/p>\n
War profiteers benefit hugely at the expense of world peace and a nation unsafe and unfit to live in for the vast majority of its people.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 8, House members overwhelmingly passed FY 2023 NDAA legislation by a 350 \u2013 80 majority.<\/p>\n
Senate members are expected to follow suit next week, the fake Biden to sign the measure into law to assure no end to perpetual US war-making.<\/p>\n
The measure includes $10 billion for Taiwan over a five-year period and $800 million for Ukrainian Nazis.<\/p>\n
Since the 2014 coup in Kiev, they\u2019ve gotten well over $100 billion for perpetual war on Russia and its civilian population.<\/p>\n
Before Republicans take control of the House in January, undemocratic Dems aim to approve another $37.7 billion for the Nazi-infested regime and its made-in-the-USA war machine.<\/p>\n
WIPA\u2019s analysis also includes the following:<\/p>\n
The post-9\/11 human toll from US forever wars through FY 2022 exceeds \u201c929,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 2018 \u2013 2020,\u201d US war OF terror, not on it, has gone on \u201cin at least 85 countries\u201d \u2014 none threatening US security.<\/p>\n
What the Bush\/Cheney regime called a \u201cglobal war on terror\u201d is part of hegemon USA\u2019s war on humanity at home and worldwide.<\/p>\n
At least \u201c38 million people have been displaced (by post-9\/11 wars in) Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
According to UN data through mid-Nov., over 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees crossed into European countries in 2022.<\/p>\n
Millions more were internally displaced.<\/p>\n
Separately discussing hegemon USA\u2019s rape and destruction of Afghanistan since Oct. 2021, WIPA explained the following:<\/p>\n
92% of its people are food-insecure, unsure of how they\u2019ll get their next meal.<\/p>\n
Half of Afghan children under age-5 suffer from acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n
97% of Afghans are impoverished.<\/p>\n
Since 2001, so-called US aid to Afghanistan was around $36 billion, what was mostly unrelated to aiding its long-suffering people.<\/p>\n
During the same period through FY 2022, hegemon USA\u2019s top five merchants of death got around $2.1 trillion.<\/p>\n
In 2022 after to decades of US war on Afghanistan and its people, 1.5 million Afghans became disabled.<\/p>\n
The number of Afghan widows is at least two million.<\/p>\n
Other US costs of war post-9\/11 include:<\/p>\n
Besides at least 929,000 deaths from \u201cdirect war violence,\u201d many times more\u201d perished from starvation, \u201cmalnutrition, damaged infrastructure, environmental degradation (and other) ripple effects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Countless millions of civilians suffer from US perpetual wars.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been over 7,000 known deaths among US military personnel.<\/p>\n
The full extent of injuries and illnesses to US military personnel is concealed from public view.<\/p>\n
At least 8,000 US military contractors were killed or injured.<\/p>\n
US forever wars eroded civil liberties and human rights at home and worldwide.<\/p>\n
Throughout the US\/West, they\u2019re disappearing altogether.<\/p>\n
The human and economic costs of past and ongoing US wars \u201cwill continue for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMost US funding of reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan has gone towards arming security forces in both countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of the money allocated to humanitarian relief and rebuilding civil society has been lost to fraud, waste, and abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both wings of the US war party reject \u201calternatives to\u201d perpetual war-making.<\/p>\n
They contributed to militarizing US police and other domestic security forces.<\/p>\n
Post-9\/11 through FY 2022, WIPA estimated over 30,000 suicides among US active duty service personnel and veterans, stressing:<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh suicide rates mark the failure of US (regimes) and society to manage the mental health costs of\u201d forever war-making.<\/p>\n
Over the same time frame, the overall human cost has been staggering high, yet largely hidden from public view.<\/p>\n
The empire of lies and its Western vassals abhor peace and stability.<\/p>\n
They prioritize perpetual wars on invented enemies at home and abroad.<\/p>\n
No real ones existed throughout the post-WW II period.<\/p>\n
All nations free from US control, subjugation and exploitation are invented enemies.<\/p>\n
The prospect of peace in our time is ruled out in favor of perpetual war-making.<\/p>\n
Is WW III inevitable?<\/p>\n
Has it already begun unannounced?<\/p>\n