Whopping 2022 US military budget designed to justify more American wars: Expert

The whopping US military budget for 2022, to the tune of $768 billion, would add more fuel to the American military industrial complex “to kill more people”, says an American author and journalist.

Speaking to Press TV on Tuesday, Eric Wulber said increasing military budget to defend places like Ukraine or Chinese Taipei was “just a pretext for the profits of the (US) military industrial complex.”

“The military industrial complex in the states…really controls the economy,” he stated, questioning the wisdom behind mammoth military budget, reportedly the biggest defense spending bill in US history.

The White House on Monday announced that President Joe Biden has signed into law the mammoth US annual military budget – his first in office – weeks after it was approved by the US Congress amid protests from progressives and anti-war groups.

The White House said that Biden signed the piece of legislation, formally known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), noting that the bill includes a pay increase for the US armed forces.

While Biden's request amounted to a military spending above the current level, Republicans called for $740 billion for the Pentagon, citing military advances by China and Russia.

Most Democrats also agreed, and both the US House and Senate backed further budget increases in their respective versions of the defense bill.

The legislation authorizes $768 billion for national defense programs, which includes the Pentagon and nuclear weapons programs overseen by the Department of Energy.

US president signs annual defense bill worth of $770 billion

US President Joe Biden has signed the country’s annual defense bill after it was passed by the House and subsequently the Senate.

Wulber said the US keeps funneling money to make weapons, although it has never been invaded by any country.

“The US is not like Russia or Iran; countries that experienced horrible invasions more than once,” he said. “No one has invaded the US. The US has got no enemies and yet outspends (militarily) all other countries of the world."

He also warned that this “completely insane situation” would keep “pushing America to the brink.”

“Instead of producing food and goods for the people, it produces money and produces arms to kill other people. You're just adding more money as a fuel to this bottomless pit,” Wulber asserted.

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One of the interesting aspects of the bill was the $300 million for the so-called Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which comes amid tensions between Washington and Moscow over the country.

The NDAA also includes $4 billion for the European Defense Initiative and $150 million for Baltic security cooperation.

It is also designed to counter China on the issue of Chinese Taipei by introducing $7.1 billion for the the so-called Pacific Deterrence Initiative.

The military bill also established a "multi-year independent Afghanistan War Commission" to examine the US defeat in Afghanistan after two decades of occupation in the war ravaged country.

Progressives in Congress have been emphasizing that the social spending bill  - valued at $1.75 trillion across 10 years, an average of $175bn annually – constitutes a small portion of the military budget.

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