March 2013 marks the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Over the weekend, Robert Greenwald, founder and director of Brave New Foundation, spent some time on the Ed Schultz radio show to reflect on the occasion.

The two recalled how the mainstream media failed to critically examine the narratives pushed by the Bush administration regarding weapons of mass destruction. With high profile leaks coming from inside the White House, the media should have spent more time questioning the reliability of the information and less time printing and broadcasting it as fact.

Once the truth came out about WMDs, we collectively vowed to never let it happen again. However, as we find ourselves in the midst of a shadowy drone war that has killed at least 178 children as well as an ongoing war against whistleblowers, we have to ask ourselves, have we really learned from the lessons of Iraq? Click the link to hear the discussion.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have come at a great cost to the American people. Thousands of men and women have died in uniform in the war zones, and billions of dollars have been spent on the wars. The wars have caused the deaths of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they have arguably had a destabilizing effect on the Middle East. It seems that the only ones benefitting from the wars have been defense contractors. Over the last decade the United States has outsourced much of the wars. Defense contractors have built bases, shipped supplies, cooked food, cleaned uniforms, and provided security. Many of the functions that used to be performed by the military have been outsourced to corporations such as Halliburton. However, we don't always get what we paid for.

The levels of power in Washington, D.C. are pulled by those with the most influence or those that can buy the most influence. Rep. Buck McKeon has a significant amount of influence as Chairman of the powerful Armed Services committee. McKeon's is one of the most strident defenders of the military-industrial complex, and his corporate campaign donors have purchased his influence to protect their industry.

What do Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman have in common? Each of these corporations is one of the top five largest defense contractors in the nation. In 2011 alone, the Department of Defense committed to spending nearly $100 billion with just these five companies. To put that in perspective, that is about the same amount spent on the entire federal education budget for 2011.

Pentagon spending has been a focal point for both President Obama and Governor Romney during the 2012 presidential debates. While Obama’s goal is to slow the defense budget’s growth over the next couple of years, he emphasizes that it will still grow. Romney’s plan however, proposes increasing Pentagon spending to meet 4% of U.S. gross domestic product. 

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com.

By Tom Engelhardt

Americans lived in a “victory culture” for much of the twentieth century.  You could say that we experienced an almost 75-year stretch of triumphalism -- think of it as the real “American Century” -- from World War I to the end of the Cold War, with time off for a destructive stalemate in Korea and a defeat in Vietnam too shocking to absorb or shake off.

Mitt Romney addressed an American Legion conference today in Indianapolis where he took another opportunity to swipe at President Obama about coming Pentagon budget cuts via sequestration. The cuts would bring Pentagon spending to 2006 levels.

By Robert Greenwald and John Amick

Recent commentators have rightly called out Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's obvious hypocrisy on cuts to Pentagon spending. This strikes us as a good time to step back and take a broader look at Pentagon spending, and deconstruct the spin coming from the Washington elites.

Republican U.S. Sens. John McCain, Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham are back on the road today in Nevada to do the bidding of Pentagon contractors. 

This resource page was produced by the Project on Government Oversight and allies. Please share in an effort to combat spin coming from the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex about potential cuts to the Pentagon's budget.

In their campaign to stop reductions in Pentagon spending and protect their profits, big defense contractors are spending millions on studies, rallies, and lobbying Congress with the false claim that defense cuts will result in the loss of more than one million American jobs. But Pentagon contractors’ threats to send layoff notices to thousands of employees in the days preceding the Presidential election are political stunts. The public has a right to know the truth behind the rhetoric and fear mongering.