News / Interviews

US foreign arms sales serve Wall Street interests: Activist

Sunday, 27 December 2015 7:13 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 28 December 2015 1:36 PM ]

"When it comes to war, it does not really matter who is in the White House, Democrats or Republicans," said Iosbaker.

The United States by far has the largest military budget and is the leading supplier of arms around the world, creating a war machine that serves the interests of Wall Street, says an anti-war activist in Chicago.

America’s overall military budget was $610 billion last year—more than the seven next largest military budgets combined, said Joe Iosbaker, a member of the United National Antiwar Coalition.

Money spent on veterans' healthcare, maintenance of the US nuclear arsenal, foreign aids and other programs brings the country's total defense budget close to $1 trillion, he said in an interview with Press TV on Sunday.

“But politicians and rich right-wingers still scream that we have to cut programs for the poor and working people,” he added.

US arms sales to other countries soared by almost $10 billion last year even as the global weapons market remained flat, according to a new congressional report.

American weapons revenue reached to $36.2 billion in 2014, up 35 percent from $26.7 billion the year before, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The boost in foreign arms sales was spurred by multibillion-dollar agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

The US foreign arms contracts are meant to shore up allies involved in armed conflicts with other nations, Iosbaker said. “They arm Saudi Arabia and Qatar for their wars in Syria and Yemen and their threats versus Iran.”

“When it comes to war, it does not really matter who is in the White House, Democrats or Republicans, they both intend to maintain the 800 military bases around the world [and] US special operations in over 100 countries,” he noted.

From the leading Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, “they defend the defense budget,” he added.

“For the people in this country, we have to reject all of that. This should be our stance. The US military budget and foreign arms sales; it's not for defense, it’s for war, and that war is for Wall Street, not for the people,” the anti-war activist concluded.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk