War Wastes More Than Lives

"The chief lesson to emerge from the battlefields" since 9/11: "the Pentagon possesses next to no ability to translate military supremacy into meaningful victory," according to Andrew Bacevich." As a retired colonel, now teaching at Boston University, Professor Bacevich speaks with some authority.

For several decades, blind faith in military supremacy has been responsible for a waste of lives and vast resources, resulting in an unprecedented, annual military budget that exceeds all other military budgets combined: $700 billion. That's enough money to feed, clothe, educate, and provide health care for every person in the world for several years, according to the UN Development Office.

How often must that comparison be acknowledged before it results in serious debate about U.S. foreign policy? How long will it take for the President and Congress to acknowledge that these wasted resources are an essential cause of our present economic recession?