These are OUR TAX DOLLARS, and this level of incompetence and negligence represents an abuse of power on an unprecedented scale, flaunting a total disregard for transparency and accountability.
Pictured above is a perfect example of everything that can go wrong.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been judged by many knowledgeable military analysts as the largest boondoggle in the history of the world. It is plagued with design flaws and technical problems. So far it has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and total outlays to bring it into full production and implementation are projected to exceed $1.5 trillion.
But why stop there? How can the DOD waste even more trillions of dollars?
No problem. Wasting money is something our defense establishment has totally perfected: the catastrophic product of fine work by the MICIMATT . . . the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex.
Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems
The U.S. and Russia had a sensible, solid ABM treaty in place. It prevented a huge arms race to build such systems. What happened? Under George W. Bush in 2002, the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the treaty. It had been in effect for 30 years. No consultation. No negotiation. We simply walked.
What’s wrong with Anti-Ballistic Missile systems?
1) They don’t work. They only create the impression that they can actually shoot down MIRVed ICBMs. However, the threat that our existing Aegis and Patriot systems, and more sophisticated ABM systems in the future, might be an effective deterrent prompted Russia to develop hypersonic missiles and a nuclear powered cruise missile which none of our systems can possibly shoot down. Thus, we’ve created a bigger threat than the one we supposedly were defending ourselves against. Of course . . . the defense contractors love it! Such boondoggles keep them rolling in the bucks.
2) They are perhaps the most destabilizing military systems on the planet. If we think our systems will guard us against a retaliatory strike, we are positioned to make a FIRST NUCLEAR STRIKE. At least, that’s how our “enemies” see it. It appears that we are creating a power imbalance whereby we can devastate our adversaries without having to worry about the total destruction resulting from them striking back. This suggests that Russia’s best shot at surviving potential U.S. aggression would be to launch a massive strike on the U.S. first, to disable and destroy both our ABMs and our nuclear missiles before we can get them off the ground. So the anti-ballistic missile system IS AN INCENTIVE for our perceived enemies to attack us first! Do you feel safer?
3) They cost trillions of dollars. President Trump recently declared that the U.S. should build its own “Iron Dome”, apparently unaware that the Iron Dome developed by Israel has failed miserably to do its job. Trump’s proposal is just Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” ABM fantasy all over again. The problem is Russia’s Avangards, Sarmats, and Oreshniks can already overcome any system the U.S. now has in development. So America’s “Iron Dome” will be a total waste of money. But the defense contractors love it! Who cares if it works?
Weaponization of Space
The Outer Space Treaty signed in 1967 specifically prohibits:
- Placing in orbit around the Earth or other celestial bodies any nuclear weapons or objects carrying WMD.
- Installing WMD on celestial bodies or station WMD in outer space in any other manner.
- Establishing military bases or installations, test “any type of weapons,” or conduct military exercises on the moon and other celestial bodies.
Treaties? Who needs treaties?
In 2019, President Trump declared, “Space is the world’s newest war-fighting domain.” He then signed a defense appropriation bill which established the U.S. Space Force, the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Services. Of course, the U.S. Space Command was already up and running. “Space Command is a division within the Defense Department tasked with unifying and directing national security operations in space.”
There are no boundaries in space. And there will be no limits on the amount of money we spend on military systems in space. Low-orbital systems. High-orbital systems. Geo-syncronous-orbital systems. Then the moon. Elon Musk will want military bases on Mars to defend his condo there. Why not patrol and arm the whole solar system? Once this starts — and it’s already started — defense contractors will come up with every conceivable system to defend against and fight our “enemies” in the vast empty stretches of our galaxy.
To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. To the military establishment, everything looks like a war. And war means spending more trillions on weapons, whether we need them or not.
What will the DOD budget be in 2030? $2 trillion? $20 trillion? $200 trillion?
Colossal Failures Big and Small
The DOD can’t always fail at the level of trillions of dollars. Sometimes its idiocy is only in the billion dollar range.
But it adds up. Just a couple examples . . .
The Department of Defense spent $40 billion between 2001 and 2014 on a missile defense program called Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System. It has been a complete flop.
Another missile defense fiasco called X-Band Radar, a floating sea-based system, wasted $10 billion of taxpayer money. This was a project of the Missile Defense Agency, which still gets funded $8-10 billion annually, despite producing practically nothing of value.
In 2016 an analysis of Pentagon practices turned up $125 billion being wasted on paperwork, flawed procedures, and inefficiencies. Those responsible buried the report so that Congress wouldn’t cut their budgeting.
We could go on and on. But pointing at the obvious doesn’t make it more obvious. It just reinforces the need to put an end to this madness, this squandering of tax payer money to fill the coffers of the defense contractors . . . this squandering of trillions of dollars WHICH IS JUST MAKING US LESS SAFE!
It just says to us as citizens, this has gone far enough.
We need to take action immediately.
Join us in making the world safer and more peaceful.
