Why does the USA need so many weapons?

Question

If it were for defense it would be enough to have the same or slightly more than any other country.

Military spending of about 10 times more than any other country can only be for offensive rather than defensive reasons.

So who is the USA planning to attack?

Obviously it is nothing to do with terrorism. Having the most expensive armed forces on Earth was no protection against the 911 attacks and it was useless in retaliation because the enemy could not be found so could not be fought.

Answer 1

Eventually they will be forced to square up to Iran!Like Germany,France and Britain will have to!

Answer 2

to stay on top!!!   they don't plan to attack anyone,  but the biggest guy at the pub usually cops flak from someone.   The 911 attacks wre a sinister plot by evil people to try and make a mark in their stupid world.  Like a kick in the balls from a friend, it hit from out of the blue. If they did not have surprise on their side, they would (and should ) have failed. after something like that, it would be hard to trust anyone.  

ps.  visited America,  loved it.

Answer 3

Russia actually has more than we do.

Backing down would be a sign of weakness. Maintaining a strong military is also important to our defense. I beg to differ when it comes to terrorism. Sometimes it requires hard power to wipe out an enemy (Al-Qaeda etc.). You can be sure that America would be cautious about starting a war.

Answer 4

Interesting question. I assume eventually USA will attempt to take more land. (By Force) But not for a long time =]

Answer 5

We're armed Constitutionally and because so many other countries hate us.

Answer 6

Its' out of control citizens, lol.

Answer 7

To control the subjects in their Empire

Answer 8

USA needs some protection against terrorism attacks they did 9/11 it can happen again in united states of America they can send suicide bombers like they did new york and i think Washington if I'm not mistaken

Answer 9

Get over it

Answer 10

Military contractors give the Republicans huge kickbacks on the taxpayer-paid contracts they get from the Repubs. These billion dollar contractors hire the retiring Military high-ranking officers who ordered  the most expensive hardware. Works real good for them. Once in a while they got to start shooting wars to really get business cranking.

Answer 11

Questions like these really draw out the ignorant yanks on Answers.....well played mate!

The answer is simple. It doesn't need so many weapons. It only has so many because Americans are gullible and the military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned us all about 50 years ago now runs the White House.

The weapons manufacturers figured out a long time ago that if there really was world peace, their stock prices would begin to tumble. So they would need to manufacture a h**l of a lot of fear if the US govt. was ever going to be able to justify continuing to spend obscene amounts of cash on big bombs.

That's where 9/11 came in. Americans scare quite easily. I know this because I work in Saudi Arabia. When a bunch of locals murdered 22 ex-pats on a compound here 4 years ago, you couldn't see the Americans for dust as they made for the airports.

Coupled with a nice, compliant media, who will shovel any amount of shít about the so-called War on Terror onto the TV screens or into the papers, the Republican party have managed to persuade enough Americans that their freedom and liberty is in danger if they don't allow the president to do exactly what he (i.e. the military industrial complex) wants.

So even though public schools are crumbling, public services are vanishing and health care is worse than most ex-Soviet countries, at least the good 'ol USA will continue to have a lovely line of big missiles with which they can spread peace and democracy around the world.

Answer 12

Weapons are to steal all the planets resources as we play the last man standing game.

Answer 13

OK....some info for you.

You didn't seem to have a problem with our stockpiles when you were looking down the silo of a USSR missile, did you?  

Military spending is high because our DoD is the major factor that this country is still doing alright economically.  Without the DoD, we would have been in a full recession.

Only skittish nervous countries that fear their long standing ally and defender would attack us.

EDIT:  Military spending also includes contracts to private sector, R&D, vet incentives, etc etc etc.  Most of DoD spending is not weapons.  Weapon spending is the least expensive thing the DoD does in the USA.  

Now where do you think we can get rid of the stockpiles we had built up for NATO defense in the last 50 years?  Think we can sell them to the highest bidder?   Would that make you happy?  How about bury them?  I'm sure you wouldn't have a problem with burying nuclear material, right?  Just some little knowledge for you, weapon-grade plutonium can not be used for anything else than big booms.

Also I am not hearing enough complaining about European countries from you.  If weapons are your issue, then the Weapon per populace in France is DRASTICALLY HIGHER than the USA.    Seriously, you are thinking in a bubble and not taking into account the sheer size of the USA.  We are not like European countries....we are like EUROPE!

Personally....If I was a European, I would be a LOT more concerned about Russia's stockpiles and government trend than the USA.  But that's just me.