“Page DoD-32 of this report shows a total of 766 bases overseas, with 16 of them “large.””
Let’s see, some of those are redundant since they count Army Airfields (AAF’s) as independant bases.
Then they list supply and fuel depots which are mostly operated by contractors.
I find it funny that they list the naval station at Key West Florida as an “overseas” station in the Bahamas thus making it one of the 766.
Some of the other “bases” such as the one listed in Australia for example is a communications relay station.
Others are early warning radar sites.
And as far as the Kwajalein Atoll....
“Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), formerly known as Kwajalein Missile Range. RTS includes radar installations, optics, telemetry, and communications equipment which are used for ballistic missile and missile interceptor testing and space operations support. Kwajalein hosts one of three ground antennas (others are on Diego Garcia and Ascension Island) that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational system.”
So I guess that we should pack up and leave and say f*ck missile testing, and space operations support, and f*ck GPS too?
Camp Comanche was not included in the report because it was turned over to the Bosnians back in 2002.
http://www.nato.int/sfor/indexinf/148/p02a/t02p02a.htm
So with that being the case, how many of those 766 bases have been closed since the report came out?
Funny how we’ve had a lot of these “bases” for the past 40 or so years and it’s only now that the military hating anti-war left started populating the paul campaign that he and his supporters now whine about the military being overstretched.
The military may or may not be "overstretched," but that's beside the point of how much tax money we're spending on a military empire stretching across the globe.
For example, to what purpose in pursuit of our national security do we maintain nearly 170 million square feet of building space (about 46 Pentagons worth) and 165,005 acres (257.8 square miles) in Germany? World War II ended there 62 years ago, and the Cold War ended 16 years ago.
By the way, do you support the “Clinton Doctrine” of “humanitarian warfare?”
Do you think our sons and daughters in America’s military forces should be sent overseas to build sewers and electrical lines for Iraq?