This story merits careful reading and is of very high value. To me, one of the striking aspects of the American psyche is that grotesquely inflated "defense" spending is equated so often with patriotism, when it in fact is the direct opposite. Reagan doubled defense spending and continued to try to build a fantastically expensive 600 cpaital ship navy when it was clear the USSR was quickly reaching the point of collapse. Thanks in part to Dick Cheney, the dissolution of the only serious potential enemy of the US did not produce a peace dividend because he and his followers wanted to set up a virtual dictatorship of the world under their control. Even though Bill Clinton reined in military spending, the events of 9-11 allowed the return of an insane level of military spending, much of which has nothing to do with the national security of the US. As this article makes very clear, the Democrats flounder in making their case for a more sensible level of "defense" expenditure. Part of the explanation lies in the fact that half of all political contributions for Democrats come from the Jewish community and the most vocal parts of that community have a close relationship with the Israeli military and government, who naturally want the largest-possible US military commitment to the Middle East because they see it as suiting their own purposes.