Militarism

"A nation that continues to spend more & more on it's military defense is approaching spiritual death."- Martin Luther King Jr.

While over one billion human beings of the planet lack safe drinking water & live in dire poverty the richest nation of the World now spends over 600 BILLION dollars a year(NOT counting the military occupations of Iraq & Afganistan) on it's military. This amount is almost half of what the REST of the 189 nations combined spend on their military.
Although he was critisized for speaking out against the Vietnam War, MLK Jr. had a higher vision for America & the Planet, one of a 'brotherhood of Man' in which Militarism & weapons of death have no part. I am currently traveling in Vietnam, a small country on which the U.S. dropped 14 million tons of bombs(7x the amount used in all of WWII) & millions of liters of toxic chemicals on from 1965-73...Over 3 million Vietnamese(50,000 US soldiers) were killed in that 'undeclared' War...Iraq & Afganistan are just the latest in over 20 countries in which the U.S. has dropped bombs on since WWII.
After WWII the Pentagon changed the 'Dept. of War' to the 'Dept. of Defense' & of course the 'military-industrial complex' started to grow..According to noted author Chalmbers Johnson the U.S. now has over 700 active military bases across the Planet..The U.S. has more nuclear,biological,& chemical weapons than any other nation..The U.S. has 12 active Aircraft carrier groups(China zero)& continues to build nuclear submarines. Besides causing death & destruction(which is the job of every military) military aircraft,tanks,missles, etc are 'single use' items while spending money on bridges,metro trains, etc are 'multi-use' & a much wiser investment of public taxpayers money than Pentagon's deadly toys..
The 'War on Terror' is an oxymoron as WAR IS TERROR..U.S. taxpayer bombs dropped on Afgan wedding parties are as much 'terrorism' as a suicide bomber blowing himself up in a market..The longer the U.S. military stays in the Middle East the more fanatical 'terrorists' will be created (Al-Qaeda stated one of the reasons the U.S. was attacked was it had over 15,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia in 2001) Politicians are LYING when they say they will 'WIN' the "War on Terror"...Those who forget history(i.e.'Winning' Vietnam) are condemned to repeat it...
The U.S. needs to 'lead' by cutting the Pentagon's budget & bringing the U.S. troops to the 'homeland' from Iraq AND Afganistan and closing hundreds of unnecessary military bases in foreign countries... There are more important issues facing humanity & the Planet than wasting TRILLIONS of Dollars on Militarism.