At the beginning of 2017, the chief of US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) General Raymond Thomas while speaking in front of one of the Senate committees announced that:
We operate and fight in every corner of the world. Rather than a mere ‘break-glass-in-case-of-war’ force, we are now proactively engaged across the ‘battle space’ of the Geographic Combatant Commands… providing key integrating and enabling capabilities to support their campaigns and operations.
According the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, William Hartung most Americans would be amazed to learn that US Special Operations Forces have been deployed to three quarters of the nations on the planet. Furthermore, according to this researcher there is little or no transparency as to what they are doing in these countries and whether their efforts are promoting security or provoking further tension and conflict.
This data is confirmed by the publication in the notorious Western alternative media source Tom Dispatch, that features a map showing the locations of 132 countries where America’s elite troops were deployed.
According to the International Business Times, the countless wars that the US government has been waging on other states ever since 9/11 resulted in the costs of 1.46 trillion dollars, which amounts to 250 million dollars a day for 16 years consecutively. According to various reports, even though Washington is allegedly still fighting a war on terror, two operations, namely Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2011) and Operation Enduring Freedom (2001-2014) account for the vast majority of the costs suffered, amounting to more than 1.3 trillion dollars collectively. However, as it’s been noted by Zero Hedge, the final total does not include the “classified programs” that were not supervised by the Department of Defense, such as those conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, which, as we know, has a significant budget of its own.
Further still, the Congressional Research Service states the only war in American history that would cost more than the so-called War on Terror is World War II, sitting at more than 4.1 trillion dollars in present dollars. Curiously enough, all of the war-related expenses from the Vietnam War won’t exceed 738 billion in today’s dollars.
However, a report released by Dr. Neta Crawford, professor of political science at Brown University, shows that by 2016 the total spendings of the United States Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, and Veteran Affairs since 9/11 was even higher, reaching almost 5 trillion dollars.
However, yet another study conducted by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University shows that Washington is trying to downplay actual figures, as they expenditures suffered by Washington in the course of its Middle Eastern and Asian operations alone since 9/11 reaches 5.6 trillion dollars. However, the study doesn’t cover the costs of African and European operations, so it’s safe to say that Washington tries to conceal actual figures in a bid to avoid public outrage. According to those figures, each American taxpayer has spent well over 23 thousand dollars over the same period of time to cover this kind of expenditures.
To carry on countless military conflicts across the globe, Washington is using a web of military facilities. According to the Stock Board Asset, America’s empire is built of 800 bases that can be found in more than 70 countries and territories abroad. It’s been noted that to maintain this global force, the US Senate approved a 700 billion dollars military bill this year. The amount eclipses 549 billion dollars military spending cap established by 2011 Budget Control Act. It shows that fund flows are increasing, as the narrative is being set with America’s next enemy in the crosshairs.
Further still, Washington provides military assistance to 36 dictatorship regimes out of 49 “officially registered” ones. In other words, more than 73% of the world’s dictators are currently being sponsored through the military assistance provided by US taxpayers.
It’s been noted that last year a Michigan State University economist Mark Skidmore managed to establish 21 trillion dollars in unauthorized spending in the departments of Defense and Housing and Urban Development for the years 1998-2015. Skidmore got involved when he heard Catherine Austin Fitts, former assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development, refer to a report which indicated the Army had 6.5 trillion dollars in unsupported spending back in 2015. It’s curious that only 122 billion dollars were approved by the Congress, which meant that the Department of Defense spent 54 times more funds that it was allowed.
In his article penned for the Forbes, Skidmore announced the “gargantuan nature” of the undocumented federal spending that “should be a great concern to all taxpayers.” It looks that Washington spears no money in a bid to export “American-style Democracy” across the globe.
Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
