The Question No U.S. Official Dare Ask

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



The Question No U.S. Official Dare Ask

Posted on Jan 7, 2010
By William Pfaff


It is time to ask a question that virtually no one in an official or political position in the United States is willing to contemplate asking. For a person in a responsible public position to pose this question would be to risk exclusion from the realm of “serious” policy discussion. It could be, as they say in the bureaucracies, “a career destroyer.”

It would be like declaring that after long analysis you had come to the conclusion that the world is indeed flat, and not round. A round earth is merely an illusion, which everyone has accepted, and adapted to—and fears challenging.

My question is the following. Has it been a terrible, and by now all but irreversible, error for the United States to have built a system of more than 700 military bases and stations girdling the world? Does it provoke war rather than provide security?

Each of six world regions now has a separate U.S. commander with his staff and intelligence, planning and potential operational capabilities. Central Command, based in Florida, currently is responsible for America’s Middle Eastern and Central Asian wars.

The other five commands—Atlantic, Pacific, Southern (for Latin America), Africa and Europe—oversee in detail what goes on in their assigned portions of the world, generating analyses, appreciations, and scenarios of possible reactions to a myriad of perceived or possible threats to the United States. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_question_no_us_official_dare_ask_20100107/

[Captain Hilts]

1. We do not have 700 military bases around the world. nt

[mopinko]

6. i believe you, but

if you could put up a something more to refute this claim, the rational folks here would be grateful.

[Captain Hilts]

8. This number includes radar stations and bases shared with other militaries. nt

[sharesunited]

22. Wikipedia to the rescue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_bases

[Frosty1]

7. I want to hear more.

Why do you say that? How many do we have?

[Captain Hilts]

11. First, you have to define 'base'. We've closed a lot of bases...

domestically and overseas. Overseas, for example, bases in Panama, Clark AFB in the Philippines, La Madelena sub base in Italy, listening posts in Turkey, Holy Loch sub base in Scotland are a few. Clark was a huge facility.

Domestically, we closed those opened by Reagan pretty quickly: Staten Island NY NB, for example. The AFB in NH, the Navy's AB in Maine is about to close, Homestead, FL AFB, Naval Station Newport, RI, Treasure Island, CA.

Do we have a 'presence' around the globe? Certainly. We have a lot of radar stations around the world that track satellites and NASA projects. These are often shared with other militaries such as Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc.

[mopinko]

15. chanute afb, glenview air station, fort sheridan.

iirc, there were a couple others closed in illinois.

[Captain Hilts]

18. I think McClelellan closed and NTC Orlando also closed. nt

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mopinko]

10. rather deceptive graphic.

seems like dots would be more illustrative. painting countries completely red......

[Captain Hilts]

19. A radar station is not a base. And a lot are shared with other militaries. nt

[dgibby]

13. You're right.

As of March 31, 2008, U.S. armed forces were stationed at more than 820 installations in at least 135 countries.<18> Some of the largest contingents are the 142,000 military personnel in Iraq, the 56,200 in Germany (see list), the 33,122 in Japan (USFJ), 28,500 in Republic of Korea (USFK), 31,100 in Afghanistan and approximately 9,700 each in Italy and the United Kingdom. These numbers change frequently due to the regular recall and deployment of units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_armed_forces

[Captain Hilts]

20. Wiki is NOTORIOUSLY unreliable for anything/anyone remotely controversial. Ignore it.

They've got a friend of mine listed as married with three kids when she's single with no kids.

Now, this list of where US military people are "stationed." The OP is about 'bases'. VERY different. We have people assigned to NATO and SHAEF in Belgium, but we don't have a 'base' there, for example.

We have no bases in Israel either.

[sharesunited]

23. There is no single source more accessible or reliable for general knowledge.

If you see something erroneous, fix it. That's precisely the idea behind Wikipedia.

[T Wolf]

2. The beast must be fed, both with our dollars and our blood. The effect is to project an

image of America as empire to other nations.

Just think what could be accomplished with all the money that is poured down the toilet of the MIC.

Or maybe don't because it's bound to make you sick.

[crikkett]

26. define: MIC?

Thanks
:hi:

[cognoscere]

27. I think it's military industrial complex. n/t

[Raster]

3. Answer: Building over 700 military installations around the world has one purpose:

and that is to enforce and reinforce the American military machine. The underlying and more important inter-related questions are: Who does the worldwide American military machine serve? Does the machine now have its own agenda and priorities, separate from those of the United States?

The systematic militarization of the planet by the US military machine has one purpose: to perpetuate the American military machine. We now are beginning to see that turning the planet into a war zone is not in the best interests of the United States and its citizens.

[patrice]

4. MIC = $$$$$$$$$$$$elf Fulfilling Prophecie$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and

WE ARE WAR SLAVES

[patrice]

5. All of us should go around asking EVERYONE "How much of the US Budget is spent on Military".

I'd bet money MOST people have no real idea.

[bertman]

12. Considering the "black" budgets and grants/funding to private corporations and public/private

universities for military-related research, there's no way we'll ever know exactly how much.

[patrice]

17. So, you're saying it's > the conventionally recognized 47%? nt

[bertman]

24. I don't know, patrice. But the more I learn about how the Military-Industrial-Corporate Complex

has set up its operations to be hidden from our view, I would not be at all surprised.

[Raster]

28. Vast portions of the MIC's "balance sheets" are black, meaning classified secret or

sensitive and thus unaffected by regular auditory scrutiny. Just ask yourself how many billions of dollars have gone missing from the Pentagon's various programs that are admitted.

[bertman]

14. This doesn't even take into account the number of locations where "special ops" teams

are active. They are the guys who sneak into a country and carry out sabotage and assassinations of group leaders who our government feels are obstacles to our objectives.

I am reminded of an acquaintance whose son is an Army Ranger who is stationed somewhere in Africa and who will not discuss his mission with his father or anyone in his family because he is certain they would provoke outrage. And probably because they are all highly classified.

K & R

I'm currently reading "Family of Secrets" by Russ Baker, the story of the Bush family and its intertwining relationship with the elites of Big Money, Big Industry, the Intelligence Industry, and our government. After WWII, these folks put into motion the plans to secure mineral resources all over the planet. That's what we are all about to this day.

[Doctor_J]

16. Anyone who says with a straight face that we need 700 military bases to secure the US

is either a good actor or a sociopath/politician.

[Dr.Phool]

21. Chalmers Johnson also uses a figure over 700 in his books.

Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis.

And he's an expert.

[TexasObserver]

25. Our excessive military spending is obscene.

The average voter simply has no idea we spend more for military than any country, and it's not close.

We have bases all over the world, and could do without 50% of them. If Iraq and Afghanistan have proved anything, it is that the mighty, expensive US military can't even dislodge a few peasants in two small countries, neither of which has a military, muchless an air force or navy.