US imperial ambition behind Obama military budget veto: Pundit
America’s pursuit of military control and imperial ambitions is the overriding factor in President Barack Obama’s decision to veto the US military budget, says an analyst.
“The veto by Barack Obama of the Defense Authorization Act and the current legislation does not reflect an opposition to the militarization of the US economy or the pursuit of imperial aims. It’s a dispute within the ruling class about how best to allocate the funds that go to either pursuit of intensifying military control and the imperial ambition on the part of the United States,”said Ralph Schoenman, author and political analyst in a Friday interview with Press TV.
The comments follow Obama’s vetoing of the $612 billion defense spending bill on Thursday.
The move came just a couple of days after US Congress sent it to Obama’s desk.
“I’m going to be vetoing this authorization bill. I’m going to be sending it back to Congress, and my message to them is very simple: Let’s do this right,” Obama said.
He had reportedly threatened to reject the bill as it allocated $38 billion into a war fund not subject to budget caps, arguing that it skirts spending caps put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act.
Now Schoenman says Obama himself expanded the US military presence overseas and boosted America’s assassination drone program.
“It is the same Obama who has used the military budget as a means of invading countries,” he noted.
The National Defense Authorization Act also prevents the closing of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, despite objections from human rights organizations and Obama.
The United States spends more on its military than any other nation in the world. The US spent $610 billion on defense in 2014, followed by China with $216 billion and Russia with $84.5 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
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