The lost bases of the US empire

[bemildred]

The US maintains more than 700 military facilities on foreign soil that may not be as sustainable in the near future.]

Remember the bases? As the world reeled from the sheer audacity of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, many feared the US was seeking to establish a permanent presence in that country.

The idea was plausible enough. The stability of Saudi Arabia was far from assured. Why not establish a friendly client state in another major oil producing country?

Iraq would be made into a dependent and profitable ally of the US from bases there, and US power and influence could be projected across the region.


http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/10/201110281131439692.html

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[pscot]

2. Decline and fall

Interesting article.

[customerserviceguy]

3. This is a constant process

We had bases in South Vietnam and the Phillipines that cost plenty, and are now not part of the security network.

It's not about projecting power over the long term, it's about the construction/supply contracts that result from the bases. All the better that they be abandoned, as far as the MIC is concerned, that just means more contracts for new ones.

[bemildred]

4. It's been downhill since the Vietnam debacle.

Near as I can tell, our political leaders are incapable of changing their ways, no matter what happens. I mean it's not like they have not been told, over and over again, and it's not like it's been working. Gulf War I is the only one I can think of since WWII which was a clear "win", and that was OBVIOUSLY because we had the wit to leave afterwards.

[swilton]

5. But the Vietnam debacle

was lost because of the hippies not because of failed US foreign policy.

:sarcasm:

[Faux pas]

6. What a waste of everything. Closing bases here to build

everywhere else in the world. Makes me sick.

[The Northerner]

7. K&R n/t

[KG]

8. the MIC made money. and after all isn't that what's most important in

the new Shock Doctrine world?

[hack89]

9. I have never figured out where that 700 number came from

and what constitutes a"military base". Do they count bases where we simply have access rights but no permanent presence? Do they count ever single little outpost and training area? What is the criteria they use?

Because when I look at this list I don't see 700 overseas bases:

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

[Name removed]

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