The Militarization of America At What Cost?

1. The Militarization of AmericaAt What Cost? Prepared by Peace Action Montgomery www.PeaceActionMC.org

2. Topics • The Federal Budget • How Are We Spending the Military Part of the Budget? • What Does American Militarism Mean for You? • The Threat to Democracy • What You Can Do

3. The Federal Budget

4. Total Federal Budget, FY 2010 Both Discretionary & Mandatory • Mandatory: Required by law. Examples: • Social Security • Interest on Debt • Medicare • Unemployment • Discretionary: Negotiated each year. Examples: • Military • Education • Research & Development Source: National Priorities Project

5. Discretionary Budget AuthorityProposed: FY 2010 • “All other” includes: • Environment • Science • Transportation • International affairs • Everything else except entitlements and debt. Source: National Priorities Project

6. Discretionary BudgetBy Category, 2009 Source: Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Briefing Book

7. U.S. Military Spending vs. Other Countries, In Rank Order, FY 2009 Source: Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation

8. Growth in Military Spending Military spending grew an average of 9% per year above inflation during the Bush years. Total increase in the Pentagon budget 2001-08: 73% - NOT INCLUDING spending on Iraq and Afghanistan. Sources: Friends Committee on National Legislation; William Hartung

9. Obama’s Projected DOD Budgets 9 $800 War costs not included in this chart Billions of Dollars $100 2009 2019 Source: National Priorities Project Security Spending Primer

10. U.S. Job Creation with $1 Billion Spending Number of Jobs Created Education Health Care Clean Energy Consumption Military Source: Pollin & Garrett-Peltier, 2009

11. Obama Military Budget, 2011 11 Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

12. Montgomery County Citizens’ Share of Military Expenditures, FY2010 Budget • About $3 billion or • $2,000 per person Source: National Priorities Project

13. Where Does the Money Go? War costs Foreign military bases War profiteers

14. Extraordinary War Costs • Total U.S. defense spending in Afghanistan, FY 2010: $101 billion. • $400 per gallon: US military’s cost of gasoline in Afghanistan • $1 million: cost to send one soldier to Afghanistan for one year • Reliance on expensive contractors Source: Congressional Research Service Report RL 33110

15. Afghanistan War Funding Notes: FY 01 & 02 combined; FY 10 assumes $33 bn supplemental Source: Congressional Research Service Report RL33110

16. Afghanistan War vs. World Military Spending In 2010, the United States will spend more on the war in Afghanistan alone than every other country in the world but China spends on its own defense. Source: Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

17. Total War CostsIraq and Afghanistan Through 2010 Total direct cost of both wars by 2010: over $1 trillion

18. $1 Trillion is a Thousand Billion Imagine that you spent $1 million/day beginning with the birth of Jesus—to spend a trillion dollars, you’d need to keep spending $1 million/day until mid-way through the 28th century. If you laid out $1 trillion end-to-end in $100 bills, you could circle the Earth at the equator 39 times.

19. Let’s Tell Congress End the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan We can’t afford this!

20. U.S. Foreign Military Bases

21. U.S. Foreign Military Bases • The US maintains about 1,000 foreign military bases • Foreign bases cost taxpayers about $250 billion per year • These bases generate anger all over the globe and are a recruitment tool for our enemies Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

23. Floating Bases • The U.S. has 11 nuclear powered aircraft supercarriers—the only nation on earth to have even one. • The U.S. maintains over 100 deployed ships and submarines at any given time—with 30,000 sailors afloat. • Each supercarrier has 90 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters and can operate continuously for twenty years without refueling. Source: United States Navy

24. Military Bases as the New Imperialism U.S. bases constitute 95% of all the military bases any country in the world maintains on any other country's territory. “Once upon a time, you could trace the spread of imperialism by counting up colonies. America's version of the colony is the military base.” Chalmers Johnson Source: Chalmers Johnson

25. The Movement to End Foreign Bases International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases: www.no-bases.org Source: International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases

27. War Profiteers Definition: Any person or organization that improperly profitsfrom warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. How do we define “improperly”?

28. War Profiteers Are huge profits improper? Is it acceptable for some people to make literally millions of dollars because thousands of others die? Is it improper if contractors lobby for wars that they benefit from financially? Is it improper if contractors’ products are shoddy? If contractors engage in fraud and highly wasteful practices?

29. War ProfiteersExample: Lockheed Martin • 84% Percent of L/M profits derived directly from US tax payers, 2008 • $4.4 billion Amount of tax-payer money distributed as profit, 2008 • $36,560,000 Total compensation of Lockheed Martin CEO, 2007 • $28,253,165 Total compensation of 6 other executives, 2007

30. Lockheed Martin • Paid $577.2 million in fines because of contract fraud since 1995 • Found guilty of 50 instances of various kinds of misconduct (including contractor kickbacks, nuclear safety violations, fraud, etc.) Source: Wikipedia

31. Lockheed Martin: Forms of Influence • Political donations to Dem and Repub parties, 1997-2009: $2,346,300 • Donations to individual politicians: averages almost $1 million/year • Paid lobbying, 2008: $15,821,506 Source: Right Web

32. Lockheed Martin: Forms of Influence Geographic distribution of subcontractors “The ideal weapons system is built in 435 Congressional districts and it doesn’t matter whether it works or not.” Alain C. Enthoven, economist and former Pentagon official. In 2009, Lockheed Martin placed full-page ads in the Washington Post showing the number of jobs for F-22 construction, by Congressional district, throughout the nation.

33. Lockheed Martin: Forms of Influence—The Revolving Door • Lockheed's former vice-president, Bruce Jackson, organized and chaired the “non-profit” Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (2002-03): It lobbied hard for the Iraq war—a war that dramatically increased Lockheed Martin profits • 8 other senior Bush Administration members had similar ties to Lockheed Martin Source: Wikpedia

34. The War Profiteer Circle

35. Gates of Lockheed Martin in January, 2009: We award Lockheed Martin the “War Profiteer of the Year Award”

36. What do Military Contractors Do? • Feed troops • Maintain facilities and equipment • Transport cargo • Wash clothes • Provide security guards for bases and diplomats • Engage in military actions through the CIA Contractors are doing everything that used to be done solely by the military—for a profit.

37. Contractors vs. U.S. Troops in Afghanistan December, 2009 Source: Congressional Research Service Report number R40764 & DOD

38. Contractors vs. U.S. Troops in Iraq, 2009 November, 2009 Source: American Friends Service Committee

39. Outsourcing War: Paying for It Annual pay for an experienced corporal with three years of service: $19,980 Annual pay for some mercenaries: $150,000--$250,o00 Source: Huck Gutman

40. Outsourcing War:Contractors Are Not Cost-Effective Federal government pays: • Training of many contractors • At least double or triple daily rate for services • Profits of firms • “Indirect rates” of firms--can sometimes be as much as 90% of a contract Sources: Alison Stanger;CNN

41. Outsourcing War:Contractors are Not Cost-Effective Federal government pays: • Profits plus indirect rates for subcontractors, i.e. profits plus indirect rates on top of profits and indirect rates—70% of costs of prime DOD contractors are subs • Fraud, waste and abuse (at least 16% in Afghanistan) • Clean-up after poor performance, bad behavior Source: Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan

43. Who Are Mercenaries? Mercenaries are soldiers-for-hire or “private security contractors,” typically provided by a large firm, such as CACI or Blackwater/Xe. They come from all over the world. Companies like Blackwater/Xe recruit especially from repressive regimes with bad human rights histories. .

44. How Many Mercenaries? About 11% of DOD contractors in Iraq & Afghanistan are mercenaries: 13,924 in June, 09 This does not include State Dept. or CIA-funded mercenaries. Under Barack Obama, in second quarter, 2009: • 23% increase in the number of “Private Security Contractors” in Iraq • 29% increase in Afghanistan Sources: Congressional Research Service, DOD Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan; Center for Globalization

45. Mercenary Contractors:Example Blackwater/Xe Killed 17 innocent Iraqi citizens in a massacre in 2007. Killed two Afghan civilians, in May 2009. How many more have they killed? We don’t know. Blackwater/Xe is still receiving millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to provide security for Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, for CIA contracts for extralegal work in Pakistan, and for other services. Source: The Nation, Jeremy Scahill

46. Implications of Outsourcing War “The United States has created a new system for waging war. . . You turn the entire world into your recruiting ground. You intricately link corporate profits to an escalation of warfare and make it profitable for companies to participate in your wars.” “We live amidst the most radical privatization agenda in the history of our country.” Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill Source: Bill Moyers Interview

47. Outsourcing War • Powerful companies promote war because it is profitable, not because of the interests of the nation • Oversight of contractors is negligible and contractors often do poor jobs—(e.g., defective KBR construction that caused electrocution of 12 US servicemen in Iraq) • Cost-plus contracts , the most common DOD-type contract, encourage waste and unnecessary spending

48. Outsourcing War • Contractors are generally outside of any law—they do what they want with total impunity (e.g., Blackwater massacre)—making a mockery of democracy or rule of law • The profit motive is often counter to the military’s goals and the nation’s interest—e.g., contractors are paying protection money to war lords and the Taliban in Afghanistan

49. Outsourcing War & Democracy As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 1864

50. U.S.: Arms Dealer to the World Arms Transfer Agreements with The World, By Supplier, 2008 Source: Congressional Research Service, Sept. 2009