Stephen Lendman

US belligerence seems heading inevitably toward confrontation with Russia - despite no threat from its government or any others.

In Tuesday testimony to House Armed Services Committee members, US NATO commander General Curtis Scaparrotti said he needs more combat troops, increased naval strength, and greater numbers of heavy weapons to deter nonexistent Russian aggression.

“I am suggesting an additional division because…I need armored and mechanized brigades,” he said.

“The reason a division is so important is at that level you can then have the command and control, communications capability to integrate the different domains in the way we fight.”

“And that division brings the enablers like appropriate artillery, engineers, air defense, etc. that fill out a proper defense.”

He wants more naval power to deter “anti-submarine warfare. It would be wonderful to have a carrier support group with amphibious forces, more than I have now.”

Claiming a Russian threat is a longstanding canard for increased military spending when large cuts are needed.

The Pentagon gave new meaning to waste, fraud and abuse. In the last 20 years since the mid-1990s, an astonishing $10 trillion went unaccounted for - hundreds of billions of dollars down a black hole annually. Yet Congress and the Pentagon want more.

If wasteful spending for militarism and endless wars of aggression was available for domestic needs, enough funding would be available to provide all Americans with free first-class healthcare, free education to the highest levels, housing for the homeless, sustenance for the food insecure, and all other vital social services.

Instead, monetary and fiscal policies are out-of-control. Epic waste reveals massive corruption. Grand theft Pentagon reflects a black hole of unaccountability.

War-profiteers never had things better. Most Americans endure hard times during unacknowledged Main Street Depression conditions, neoliberal harshness when stimulus needed making conditions worse.

Eisenhower’s farewell address message went unheeded, warning “against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”

Warriors running America hold everyone hostage to their belligerent agenda.

Their phony war on terror is used to enlist public support for endless wars on humanity at the expense of peace, equity and justice for all.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He 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 WW III."

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

Visit his blog site at http://www.sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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