Are there too many US bases on foreign soil?

[rn79870]

Great interview with Brzezinski, the former national security adviser.

Brzezinski speaks out on Bush's Pentagon spending binge: "Do we really need that for our security?" By Michael Mechanic August 22, 2008

Mother Jones: The United States military has a huge overseas footprint—nearly 800 bases around the world. We're the only country that does this. Do you think that's necessary or wise?

Zbigniew Brzezinski: It might be useful for the next president to ask a few experienced, independent-minded people to take a broad look at the scale and thrust of our defense efforts, without prejudging what such a group might say. There's something troubling about a condition in which one country, which has roughly 5 percent of the world's population, spends more than 50 percent of the world's defense budgets. There's something weird about it. Maybe it's inherent in the role we have to play in the world—that we have to have a very, very large defense budget. But one just has to wonder whether that's really necessary. I have been struck by the pervasive frequency of highly patriotic, pompously patriotic-sounding ads for defense industries, usually accompanied by deferential salutations to our men and women who are heroically sacrificing their lives in our defense, but sponsored by the defense industry. We are the most defense-oriented or military-oriented country in the world today. Do we really need that for our security?

MJ: Regarding Iraq, we've built a number of what can only be called permanent bases...ZB: Permanent bases can become impermanent.MJ: Do you think that's the plan?

ZB: That's not the plan, but the fact that we build something doesn't mean that we have to sit in it forever. I think if the Democrats win we're not going to be sitting in permanent bases in Iraq in a scale and in a fashion that Bush is currently, maybe, designing. If he signs some agreement with Maliki, do you think the Democratic Congress is going to endorse it?

The rest of the article is here.http://www.motherjones.com/new....html

I think this is something we need to recognize. Not only are we paying to support those bases, we generally lease the property from the country. We do this under the guise of "security" for the region. Seriously, if we're going to become a security force, why not make these countries pay for our services?

[AZhitman]

I think there's too much foreign soil.

[rn79870]

So did Napoleon.

[szh]

So did Napoleon.

And Hitler.

Z