"Militarism continues to dominate our values, mind-set, economy, foreign policies, and lives without regard to political party or president. It is truly bipartisan as evidenced by increased military spending and expanded wars during the Obama administration. Obama embraces the 'national security consensus to which every president since 1945 has subscribed,' [Andrew] Bacevich writes [The Limits to Power]. Obama's rhetoric is Bush-like when it comes to justifying militarization and war. As the United States institutionalized its ongoing occupation of Iraq and escalated dramatically its war and occupation of Afghanistan, Obama said: 'For unlike the great powers of old, we have not sought world domination. Our union was founded in resistance to oppression. We do not seek to occupy other nations.' This is 'the way we prefer to see ourselves,' Bacevich writes. It is the 'narrative that we use to justify all that we do in the world.' That Obama, 'whose background was so different, would embrace that narrative so uncritically' was a clear sign of how little change would come to Washington.
" 'Paradoxically, the belief that all (or even much) will be well, if only the right person assumes the reins as president and commander in chief serves to underwrite the status quo. Counting on the next president to fix whatever is broken promotes expectations of easy, no cost cures, permitting ordinary citizens to absolve themselves of responsibility for the nation's predicament . . . Rather than seeing the imperial presidency as part of the problem, they persist in the fantasy that a chief executive, given a clear mandate, will "change" the way Washington works and restore the nation to good health.' [Bacevich]
"President Obama was forced to end the occupation of Iraq. He escalated the war in Afghanistan, spread fighting into Pakistan, Yemen, and Libya, and significantly expanded deployment of special operations forces to more than seventy-five countries. Colonel Tim Nye, U. S. special operations command spokesman, says U. S. clandestine warfare is likely to spread soon to 120 nations. President Obama also increased military spending to historic highs, committed $80 billion to upgrade America's nuclear arsenal, and dramatically escalated counterinsurgency warfare, including drone attacks. Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, warns that drone attacks 'may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law.' The really 'problematic bottom line' at present is 'that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability.' It is also problematic that drone warfare, like so many other aspects of militarized foreign policies, are counterproductive. Noor Behram, a Pakistani who has photographed the typical aftermath of deadly drone attacks describes the scene:
" 'There are just pieces of flesh lying around after a strike. You can't find bodies. So the locals pick up the flesh and curse America. They say America is killing us inside our own country, inside our own homes, and only because we are Muslims. The youth in the area surrounding a strike get crazed. Hatred builds up inside those who have seen a drone attack. The Americans think it is working, but the damage they're doing is far greater.'
"Canadian journalist Eric Margolis notes that 'more empires have fallen because of reckless finances than invasion.' He estimates that U. S. security spending is about $1 trillion a year. If you factor in interest payments on the nation's debt that are linked to years of excessive 'defense' spending the annual trillion dollar figure may be an underestimate."
