Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
We can justify. (Keep in mind here I'm not agreeing with this, just giving you the reasons why.)
We aren't defending the US from Japan or Germany. We have bases in Japan because we need bases in Asia, mostly because of North Korea but also in the past because of China.
With Germany (Really Europe, being as the US has multiple bases in Europe), it's partially because of our involvement in NATO, as well as we need a forward base in Europe. However, I personally see no reason why we cannot close most of these - do we need three bases in Italy?
But that doesn't provide us with "ample national security". We were attacked on 9/11 and our oceans and borders didn't protect us. At the same time we also need to have the ability to reach out and bitch smack one when required - such as Afghanistan. We have a large military not only to protect our country, but also to have the ability to deploy anywhere quickly... As well as to "project force" in an area.
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the philosophy of whether the US needs to command a military that spans the globe is one where i'm sure we would disagree on. we had a 500 billion pentagon in 2001 & it did not stop an attack on the US. our jets were clueless on 911. It still took 60 days to mobilize a force to topple the taliban, & 10 more years to kill osama. so all those bases around the world didnt really hasten the end of GWOT.
if you can honestly tell me what national interest the US is protecting in okinawa, i'd love to hear it. all i see are thousands of troops doing drills, enjoying the weather, & a few ruffians raping the locals every few years. all costing millions a year for what exactly. so we can invade china faster? When are we gonna be invading china when we wont even invade syria or iran after the lesson of iraq.
we got drones. we got cruise missiles. we can take out governments without even sending in troops now. all the bases, & missiles in alaska that dont work, & 10 nuclear carriers & fighting 2 wars in 2 theatres at once. F35s that cost 100 mil a pop, to do nothing any better then current tech. its the worlds most massive boondoggle. especially with 2 giant oceans & 2 allies on the borders. absurd.
700 billion a year just to protect oil tankers, thats what it is.