On May 18th, the US House of Representatives approved a Defense Bill that will allocate roughly 600 billion USD for the military budget in 2017. This sum of money, supplied by the American taxpayer, gives the US imperial apparatus the funds necessary to continue its program of endless warfare. While the GOP holds a majority in the House, the Democratic Party put up little resistance. A few representatives, including Democrat Barbara Lee, proposed�an amendment to the existing�bill. The amendment�called for the revocation of a 2001 order that allowed US Presidents to wage war on any nation deemed responsible for 9/11. However, the amendment was struck down and the budget proposal stands.

It is no mystery that the US possesses a bloated military budget. US military spending dwarfs the military budgets of the next ten countries combined. Under Obama, the US military budget increased in 2010-2011 and dropped modestly thereafter. However, the Obama Administration remains the record holder for the highest average military budget over the course of a presidency. The withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq in 2011 had little impact on the overall dollar amount spent on war. Washington's�theater of war had already been expanded to include ventures that cemented warfare as a permanent feature of US imperial society.

The US maintains its global military empire in part through its�control over the mass media. Washington possesses a stranglehold over the narrative of international affairs with the help of six monopoly corporations that own 90 percent of all media in the US. Monopoly control over the media allows Washington to wage endless war all over the globe and frame it as part of a great civilizing mission. In late May, President Obama visited Vietnam directly after lifting the arms embargo against the socialist country. During the visit, he scolded Vietnam for supposed "human rights abuses" despite the fact that the US military�murdered over a million Vietnamese civilians during the invasion of Vietnam from 1965-1974.

Obama's comments regarding Vietnam are beyond hypocritical. The US remains the number one violator of human rights in the world. In a recent study, it was found that the US has murdered 20-30 million people since the end of World War II. In the US-NATO bombing of Libya in 2011, it is estimated that at least 10,000 civilians were killed by NATO sorties. In the last eight years of Democratic Party rule, Washington has increased its war arsenal in Africa through AFRICOM and drone warfare. The Obama Administration has murdered thousands by the use of unmanned aerial drones, with�each drone aircraft costing roughly between 3 and�9 million dollars to purchase and operate.

Whether it is the US-sponsored proxy war in Syria or the continuation of the occupation of Afghanistan, the�US military's endless human rights abuses�have been carried out�with no�respect to international law. The US has never been held accountable for war crimes by an international body. Neither the UN nor the International Court of Justice has taken any measures to�bring the US government to justice. In fact, these bodies have often served US imperial interests. In 1999, the US collaborated with NATO to pressure the International Court of Justice to indict Bosnian Presidential Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes despite the dubious nature of the charges. As for the UN,�The US has used its�permanent membership status on the UN Security Council to protect and promote imperial war. For example, the US has vetoed dozens of resolutions to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes against the Palestinians.

The UN's usefulness is ultimately hindered by the global character of US imperialism. It is common place for liberal sections of US society to decry Washington's bloated military budget as a product of misplaced priorities. However, the US needs every dollar of its military budget. With an estimated 1000 military bases around the world and Special Operations Forces in 134 nations, the US military apparatus is not just enormous but�expensive. The conclusion that the largest military state in world history is the product of misplaced priorities is a gross�oversimplification.

The US spends so much on war because it needs war. The interests of imperialism�dictate policy in Washington. Imperialism's primary interest is the consolidation of capital for the purpose of maximizing profits for monopoly banks and corporations. It is now relatively common knowledge that the US invaded Afghanistanand Iraq in 2001 and 2003 to secure their�large deposits of natural resources. War is thus critical for the continued expansion and operation of the global capitalist system that drives US policy.

Profit maximization is at the heart of each and every geopolitical conflict worldwide. The US wants�to keep China away from Africa's resources so it has expanded AFRICOM's military footprint on the continent. It also wants to break Russia's economic relationship to the European market by way of sanctions and NATO advancements in Eastern Europe. The US has utilized proxy war to destabilize the Middle East and prevent lasting economic partnerships between Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Current US imperial doctrine requires that any threat to total US hegemony be eliminated by any means necessary.

So if war is a necessary condition of�imperialism, than the only way to rid of war is to rid of the system that requires it. A movement capable of replacing imperialism with a system based on human need has yet to emerge in the US. It is our job to organize it. The recent 600 billion USD reserved for "defense" is set to condemn millions all over the world to the perils of�sanctions, bombings, and proxy wars. These acts of war�benefit no one but the capitalist class, the top .001 percent that own the means of production. Let this fact be the primary motivator of a new anti-war movement in the 21st century.

This article was written by Danny Haiphong for American Herald Tribune on May 28, 2016. Danny Haiphong is a activist and radical journalist in the Boston Area.