Bull Crap II

Email from my p.o.'d friend in LA --  

America spends almost 50% of the total global military expenditure, more than the next 32 countries combined. We command the most powerful army the world has ever seen, and we cannot (after two years) control the two mile stretch of road between Bagdad and the airport.

I guess the military reflects the leadership of the Commander in Chief.  

World military spending topped $1 trillion in 2004

Tue Jun 7, 2005 08:42 AM ET

By Peter Starck
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - World military spending rose for a sixth year running in 2004, growing by 5 percent to $1.04 trillion on the back of "massive" U.S. budgetary allocations for its war on terror, a leading research institute said on Tuesday.

But world military expenditure was still 6 percent below all-time highs recorded in 1987-88 toward the end of the Cold War, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its annual yearbook.

With expenditure of $455 billion, the United States accounted for almost half the global figure, more than the combined total of the 32 next most powerful nations, said SIPRI, which is widely recognized for the reliability of its data.

In 2003, U.S. spending stood at $405 billion, SIPRI said. "The major determinant of the world trend in military expenditure is the change in the United States, with its 47 percent of the world total," the Swedish government-funded institute said.