The Sun Never Sets on the American Empire
The February 2008 issue of American Legion Magazine has an article entitled “Over There: Where In The Word We Are” by Alan W. Dowd. The article isn't available online yet. The author has a website here. His earlier articles are accessible but not this current one.
The United States has nearly half a million troops stationed in 144 countries. We have the obvious ones — 168,000 troops in Iraq, 27,114 in South Korea and 24,800 in Afghanistan. The article doesn’t list all 144 countries but here are a few of the others:
We have a logistics unit in Singapore that enables U.S. Navy vessels to perform exercises. We have 240 Navy and Air Force personnel in Diego Garcia (yes it’s a place, not a person). We've got fifty thousand troops in Japan; just 711 in Australia.
In addition to Iraq we have troops in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
And we’re all over Europe with 58,000 troops in Germany and over ten thousand in the U.K. and Italy. We have a somewhat smaller presence in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Kosovo/Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Oh, and Turkey, Romania, Greece and Bulgaria. And Greenland.
We also have a strong presence in Latin America and Africa (mostly Djibouti).
How crucial is all of this? What terrible things would happen if we pulled some (or even all) of our troops out of Portugal? Or Germany? Or Singapore, Djibouti, Greenland, Colombia, Diego Garcia…
Our entire infrastructure is crumbling, we’re hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, and we have American troops stationed in 144 countries. Is this right?
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: Alan W. Dowd, American Legion, Where In The World We Are
posted by Tom Harper @ 5:41 PM
20 Comments:
Good article. This is something the American people need to have a serious conversation about. Especially since Bush is pushing hard to keep us locked into staying in Iraq forever.
I remember in Junior High reading in my pro-western world history book that this was the exact shape Rome was in before it fell.
Erik
J: Yes, this subject needs lots of discussion. The scariest part was the positive "War on Tur" spin of this article. His whole approach was "see how we're all united against those evil furriners."
Erik: Yup, the parallels between us and ancient Rome are pretty discouraging.
Fine. Pull them out of Portugal and watch Lisbon fall to the jihadists.
As for the Rome thing, I'm glad fashions have changed. Would anyone wanted to have seen Sensenbrenner wearing a toga? Shudder.
Randal: I guess you're right. Between the Islamofascists and the Communists, we need to stand our ground in every country and keep fighting for the American Way.
Rome is great examaple
Swinebread: Yup, there are lots of parallels between the US right now and Rome just before it fell.
Yes, it's obvious why we have troops stationed in in 144 countries around the world. When you are trying to maintain an empire, you have to spread things out a bit, make your influence felt everywhere, even in Lower Slobovia. The U.S. government does seem to view itself as the leader of a world empire. Is it any wonder the rest of the world has taken to hating us so much?
Snave: Yup, we're the emperors, maintaining a "presence" in every corner of the world. I hadn't even heard of Diego Garcia before I read that article (it's a British-owned island in the Pacific) and we have 240 troops there. I'm sure the locals are thrilled.
Right? No.
At some point America will fall short of China and possibly Russia. There is only so much time any country held the title as great.
This last President moved us a little closer to becoming a lesser country than what we are now.
It will depend on whom the next President becomes and where he or she takes us and deal with China.
Anna: Nope, it's not right.
Let's Talk: I think right now we're at the same stage the Soviet Union was in just before they collapsed. Ronald Reagan was supposed to be a hero because he "caused" the Soviet Union to crumble. But I think both countries were spending themselves over a cliff and the Soviets got there first. We'll be taking a plunge off that same cliff if we don't start doing something different.
keeping the military machine churning is a staggering cost to our nation.
and once again, the middle class is the one paying the bill..
Mike: Yup, it's that good old middle class doing all the work, as usual. We might as well just cut out the middle man (the Army) and have every household write a 5-figure check to Halliburton or Blackwater.
And the desire of the neocon elite is to occupy every country enroute to total world dominance.
Larry: Yup, that's their plan. They don't even try to hide it. That PNAC website is scary; they think the entire planet is their personal chessboard.
Having troops in Diego Garcia (which I have never heard of until now) Lisbon and Holland is essential to US safety because if we do not fight them over there, they will bring to fight to our lawns. I mean we certainly don't want Holland to attack us and spread ideas of universal healthcare. That will be detrimental to our society.
But this is how terrorism commences and creates terrorist groups; occupation of foreign lands.
Jo
Jo: LOL, I hear those Diego Garcians are a pretty rough bunch. Better for us to fight them over there. And Holland, with their universal health care and tolerance towards drugs -- heaven forbid.
You're right, by occupying so many foreign countries, we're inspiring more hatred and terrorism.
It's not like there's any good jobs for them to come home to anyway.
Canuckbuck: Good point. And travel is educational. The traveling I did when I was in the Navy inspired me to travel all over Europe and Asia after I got out of the Navy.
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