I want to tell you something true. Not comfortable. Not convenient. True.
As a Cold War Veteran, I have watched this country go to war damn near my entire life. During my first tour of duty at Rota Naval Base in Rota, Spain, I was detached to the NATO Base in Sigonella, Sicily, after our F-14 Tomcats shot down Libyan fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra in 1981. According to WarHistoryOnline.com, this nation has only experienced 17 years of peace — just 17 years. And we're not alone — all of the colonizing European nations like the UK and France have similar war records.
This nation's addiction to war is a sickness. We're witnessing the desire to go to war the way some people drink — compulsively, ritually, with elaborate justifications and a complete inability to stop. And every single time, the people who bleed are not the people who decided. The people who bleed are the ones who always bleed. The ones who work. The ones who wait. The ones who bury their children and then go back to work because the rent is still due.
Operation Epic Fury
On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a massive joint military assault on Iran — hundreds of strikes across at least 14 cities, the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader, and a school bombing in Minab that killed at least 148 people. Girls. In a school. Dead. And the bombs were ours.
Operation Epstein Fury was launched without a vote of Congress, without a declaration of war, without the consent of the American people. And now, one week in, the bill is already arriving.
One Week In: The Bill Has Already Arrived
According to a new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the United States spent $3.7 billion in the first 100 hours alone — nearly $900 million every single day. Al Jazeera reported on March 6, 2026 that of that $3.7 billion, $3.5 billion was not budgeted for. Not a penny of it was planned. Not a penny of it was voted on by the people's representatives.
The Pentagon has already reportedly assembled a $50 billion supplemental budget request — to replace the Tomahawk missiles, Patriot interceptors, THAAD systems, and other equipment burned through in the first week of this war.
The Human Cost (First Week)
- • 1,332+ killed in Iran (Iranian Red Crescent)
- • 181 children among the dead
- • 123 killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes
- • 6 American servicemembers dead
- • Strait of Hormuz disrupted, oil prices spiking
50 Years of War: The Running Tab
According to Brown University's Costs of War Project, from 2001 through fiscal year 2022, the United States appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $8 trillion for the post-9/11 wars alone. Eight trillion dollars. I want you to sit with that number the way you sit with grief — slowly, fully, without looking away.
Approximate Costs of Major U.S. Wars (Inflation-Adjusted)
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard's Linda Bilmes estimate the true cost of Iraq and Afghanistan alone at $5 to $8 trillion when interest on war debt is included. By 2030, this country will have spent more on interest payments alone than on the actual military operations — over $2 trillion in interest. Future generations will be paying for wars that ended before they were born.
What $8 Trillion Could Have Built Instead
Free public college for every American for 25+ years
Universal healthcare for a decade
Every road, bridge, and water pipe rebuilt
Fully funded public schools in every zip code
Rural hospitals that don't have to close
Cancer research that doesn't have to beg
Military spending produces an average of 5 jobs per $1 million spent. Education spending produces 13 jobs for the same million dollars. Nearly three times as many. I know what I would choose. I know what the people would choose, if anyone ever asked them.
The Pentagon: The World's Most Expensive Black Hole
The Pentagon has never — not once, not in its entire history — passed a full financial audit.
- • 7 consecutive audits failed — unable to account for more than half of its assets
- • GAO flagged DOD financial management as "high risk" since 1995
- • $10.8 billion in confirmed fraud (2017-2024) — and that's just what they found
- • GAO says Pentagon will likely fail audits through 2028
Pentagon Contracts 2020-2024: $771 Billion to 5 Firms
For comparison: The total U.S. budget for diplomacy, development, and humanitarian aid over the same period was $356 billion. We spent more than twice as much arming the world as we did feeding, healing, or building it.
This is not a defense budget. This is a confession.
The $30 Million Drone: A Perfect Symbol
Two days before we bombed Iran, on February 26, 2026, the U.S. military used a high-energy laser to shoot down a drone near Fort Hancock, Texas. The drone belonged to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The reason it was shot down? CBP never told the Pentagon it was flying one.
Thirty million dollars. Gone. Because two federal agencies could not coordinate a phone call.
Two weeks earlier, a military laser system shot down a child's birthday party balloon near El Paso — shutting down the airport for 8 hours, canceling 14 flights, and diverting medical evacuations 45 miles away. A child's birthday balloon and a $30 million drone, both destroyed by the same institution that just launched hundreds of airstrikes on a sovereign nation.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
— President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
He was right. He has always been right. And we have spent 65 years proving it.
Defense contractors don't just build weapons — they buy politicians. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter tells the whole story: originally projected at $200 billion, its lifetime cost has ballooned to $1.7 trillion — with documented engine failures, software malfunctions, and combat performance issues. The program continues because it employs workers in nearly every congressional district. That is not defense strategy. That is political protection money.
From a Veteran-Owned Publication: We Must Fight for Peace
I publish this newsletter as a veteran-owned outlet. I honor the service and sacrifice of every man and woman who has worn this nation's uniform. That is precisely why I am saying this as loudly as I know how.
Veterans don't start wars. Politicians do. And too many of those politicians are funded by the same defense contractors who profit from endless conflict. Our troops deserve better than being used as pawns in a game of corporate profit and apocalyptic fantasy.
Dr. King said it in 1967, and I will say it again in 2026: a nation that chooses guns over people is approaching spiritual death. I believe we can still choose differently.
Call to Action: The Supplemental Is Coming — Be Ready
The Pentagon's $50 billion supplemental budget request is coming. When it lands on Capitol Hill, it will be the single most important moment for citizen opposition to this war. Here is what I am asking you to do. Not tomorrow. Now.
1. Call Your Representatives — Non-Stop
Use 5 Calls (5calls.org) — an app that makes it fast and easy to contact your representatives with scripted talking points. Tell them: no supplemental war funding without a congressional vote. No blank checks.
Get 5 Calls App2. Join the Movement
Connect with organizations already in the streets: No Kings (nokings.org), Together Across America, and Black Lives Matter — because Black communities bear the heaviest burden of both war spending and domestic austerity.
Join No Kings3. Follow the Money
Go to OpenSecrets.org and look up every elected official who represents you. Find out who is taking money from defense contractors and military PACs.
Visit OpenSecrets4. Vote Them Out
Any elected official — Democrat or Republican — who votes to fund endless wars while cutting healthcare, education, and social safety nets does not represent working people. Primary them. Defeat them. Replace them.
5. Demand a Pentagon Audit
No new defense spending — not one dollar of supplemental funding — until the DOD passes a clean financial audit. Call. Email. Show up at their offices. Make them uncomfortable.
6. Demand a War Powers Vote
The President launched a war on Iran without congressional authorization. That is unconstitutional. Demand that your representatives assert their authority and vote on any further military action.
7. Spread the Word
Share this newsletter. Talk to your neighbors, your coworkers, your family. The people who profit from war are counting on your silence. I am asking you to refuse.
Sources
🤖A Note About Our Editorial Process: This newsletter is crafted with the help of Dr. Shirley J. Droid, our Deep Agent research assistant (named after physicist Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson). As your self-appointed Head of AI Editorials, I use Dr. Shirley J. Droid to research, draft, and format these posts. But the analysis, perspective, and commitment to economic justice? That's 100% human, 100% me.
✊🏾 Power to the people.-cb, publisher