What They Say
U.S. politicians from both parties say wars are fought to defend what they call the “free world” from tyranny. They say the U.S. is a beacon of freedom and democracy. They use patriotism (another word for nationalism) and wave the flag to get us to fight their wars, claiming we are defending our interests.
The Reality
When they claim that wars are defending “our interests,” these are not the interests of all of us, especially not of working-class people and the poor. What they are really defending are the interests of the capitalist class. They are the owners of the large corporations, the financiers and the bankers who run the economy to maximize their profits at the expense of workers’ lives, both in the U.S. and around the world. These capitalists are in constant competition with the ruling classes of other nations over resources and markets, which can lead to war.
Since World War II, the U.S. has built a world-wide military occupation. It has developed a network of over 850 foreign military bases or facilities in 95 countries, spending almost $1 trillion per year on the military. This is far larger than any other country’s network of foreign bases; the U.K., Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, and China each have fewer than 120. The U.S. military has also produced thousands of nuclear warheads (enough to destroy all life on Earth).
For 20 years, the U.S. bombed and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan. In these two nations alone, the U.S. military killed at least 425,000 people, the majority non-combatants, and destroyed much of the infrastructure. More than 10 million Afghans and five million Iraqis have been displaced inside their countries or are refugees.
In the years since, the U.S. has continued to inflict brutal violence on the people of the Middle East. Presidents Biden and Trump both have provided unflinching support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. The U.S. government has supplied tens of billions of dollars’ worth of warships, fighter jets, bombs, and other military equipment, and billions more in direct financial support; and has also acted as a consistent advisor to Israel’s genocidal assault on the people of Gaza. In the last decade, the U.S. also attacked the people of Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Iran, and supported militias, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
And who benefits? Those corporations that are part of the “military industrial complex.” Companies like Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and others make billions of dollars from these wars.
And who suffers most? It’s the people around the world who are killed, injured, or lose their loved ones, or are forced to flee from their homes. And they face the repression of U.S. occupying forces or dictatorial regimes imposed by or supported by the U.S.
Those who carry out these atrocities pay a price as well. The U.S. military is made up of mostly poor and working-class people, many of whom are in the military because they see no better options to make a living with some benefits. But after experiencing the horrors of war, those who aren’t killed may be horribly wounded and experience mental illness, drug addiction, homelessness, and PTSD. Many commit attacks of domestic violence and die by suicide.
The U.S. military machine is a threat to the workers and poor everywhere. The ruling class, their media, and political parties are trying to prepare us for more wars with a focus on Russia and China, pushing us closer to a nuclear war.
What We Say
The working class and the oppressed worldwide face the same enemy – the capitalists. Their system is responsible for the world’s conflicts. Working people in the U.S. have no interest in fighting workers in other countries. We have no use for the vast arsenal and nuclear weapons. The hundreds of billions of dollars they hand annually to military contractors to build and maintain their killing machine could be used to transform the world we live in instead of destroying it. We could build housing for all, sustainable energy systems and schools, create an accessible healthcare system, expand public transit, repair water and other essential infrastructure, hire more teachers, prevent further climate catastrophe, and meet all our real needs. These are the real interests of humanity everywhere. This is what we need to fight for.
| Source: War Resisters League |
This chart does not reflect the changes from Trump’s budget bill passed in July 2025, including major cuts to “Human Resources,” “General Government,” and “Physical Resources” and increased spending for ICE and the military.
