[Another version is at http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-soaring-profits-of-the-military-industrial-complex-the-soaring-costs-of-military-casualties/5388393]

The launch of two major wars by the US government had two major beneficiaries, one domestic and one foreign. The three major weapons manufacturers, Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOG) and Raytheon (RTN) have delivered record-shattering returns to investors, CEOs and investment banks during the past decade and a half.

The Israeli regime has expanded its territory and increased its power and influence in the Middle East. Israel's territorial dispossession of Palestinians, was aided and abetted by the US invasion and destruction of the Palestinian's Iraqi allies. Washington destroyed Iraq's armed forces and fragmented its society and state.

The cost in US physical and mental casualties' runs in the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who at one time served in the war zones. The financial costs run in the trillions of dollars and counting. Both the military-industrial complex and the pro-Israel power configuration continue to wield a major role in keeping Washington on a wartime footing.

For the weapons manufactures there are no peaceful economic activity that can yield a comparable return – hence the need to continue to pressure for new wars to sustain weapons spending. For the pro-Israel power configuration, peace agreements would put an end to land grabs, reduce or curtail new weapons transfers and undermine pretexts to sanction or bomb countries (like Iran) opposing Tel Aviv's vision of "Greater Israel".