“First, some history. The Pentagon’s budget has risen for 13 years, which is unprecedented. Between 2001 and 2009, overall spending on defense rose from $412 billion to $699 billion, a 70 percent increase, which is larger than during any comparable period since the Korean War. Including the supplementary spending on Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States spent $250 billion more than average U.S. defense expenditures during the Cold War – a time when the Soviet, Chinese and Eastern European militaries were arrayed against the United States and its allies.
Over the past decade, when the U.S. had no serious national adversaries, the country’s defense spending has gone from about a third of total worldwide defense spending to nearly 50 percent. In other words, America spends almost as much on defense as the planet’s remaining countries put together.”
Read more: ►http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2011/Aug-08/The-US-benefits-from-major-defense-spending-cuts.ashx#ixzz1UP30DANX
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: ►http://www.dailystar.com.lb)