ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Renowned broadcaster, writer and intellectual David Barsamian has said that the US, being a major imperialist power of the world, spends $1 trillion yearly on its military and war adventures in the world.

“It [US] needs to make major changes in its future policy to make the world a better place to live in”, said the award winning founder and director of Alternative Radio while delivering a lecture on “The state of American democracy: reflections on media, foreign policy and war on terror” at the Islamic International University, here on Tuesday.

The two lectures delivered by David Barsamian at the university on Monday and Tuesday was organised by the Institute for Research and Dialogue (IRD) of the IIUI.

Highlighting the post-election hopes in the US and Pakistan, Barsamian, author of several books including What We Say Goes and Targeting Iran, cautioned against optimism and asked people to be pragmatic regarding changes being made in the White House.

Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, president IIUI, presided over the lectures. Comparing the American defence budget with Iran’s, which American media portrays a ‘war-monger’, Barsamian observed that Iran spends $5 billion yearly on its defence which is equivalent to what the US spends in two weeks on its war in Iraq.

He said terrorism was an abstract and relative term. Nelson Mandela and the Indian National Congress leaders were also called terrorists by the Western media but later the US government not only recognised them as great leaders but also established relations with them.

In 1980s a think-tank called “Project for New American Strategy”, which identified armed invasion as the major component of American future policy enamoured President Bush and he launched their policies and recommendations in his War on Terror policy after 9/11.

Mr Barsamian observed that the expression “War on Terror” was an abstract term like war on greed or against jealousy or against corruption, which cannot be fought militarily.

The US media has year after year identified insignificant countries as potent enemies of the country and launched offensives against them. In 1983, a country as insignificant as Granada with a population of just 100,000 was identified as a potential threat and then conquered.

In 1945 the US adopted a global role for itself and year after year it intervened and attacked the democratic governments in Chile, Brazil, Musadaq’s Iran, Nasser’s Egypt and Guatemala amongst many other countries. Citing an example of the American foreign policy arrogance, Dr Barsamian said President Bush refused to apologise for shooting an Iranian passenger plane in 1988. It is this attitude, observed Barsamian, which needs to be changed.

America was the only country, which kept 700 airbases all over the world in more than 100 countries of the world. Through this presence, US tries to dominate the world and secure its interests like oil.

The problem with the imperialist regimes, observed Barsamian, was that they thought they had all the answers, but the fact was that only the people know best what was good for their country.