Rome had battallions posted in the furthest outposts of the world...

[Yollam]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance8.html

According to the Department of Defense publication, "Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths by Regional Area and by Country," the United States has troops in 135 countries. Here is the list:

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Antigua
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote D’lvoire
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mexico
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua

Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovenia
Spain
South Africa
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

[gratuitous]

1. Oh good, they didn't forget Poland

And just what, pray tell, are we doing with a military presence in, say, Norway? Or Burma?

[Spinzonner]

2. Does that include Embassy guards ?

If so, a bit misleading

[htuttle]

5. Yes, but...

Here's what looks like a follow up to the previous link:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance20.html

He does some more analysis, and shows that there are only a very few (like 6) countries where the only US troops in the country are embassy guards. Most of the countries that have embassy guards also have other troops.

[Yollam]

7. Thanks N/T

nt

[UTUSN]

3. And GIBBON said that the residents of Rome proper

didn't oppose the government's getting involved in far-off wars SO LONG as the wars STAYED far-off and didn't impede the daily flow of bread and circuses.

[davepc]

4. IMHO the biggest failure of the Clinton presidency was to not restructure

the US military for a post Cold War world. All US troops should have come home from Europe, NATO should of been disbanded.

American military objectives should have been redefined and troops repositioned.

The draw down of our strategic nuclear forces was good, the continuation of the Bush Sr. military downsizing was good, but failure to reconfigure the military's deployment posture and lack of initiative to redraw our strategic alliances was a mistake.

In effect, by not realigning our troop posture he left the table 'set' for whoever came after him, and we saw how that worked out.

[Yollam]

8. And it's funny how right-wingers now blame that downsizing on Clinton...

...even though Bush sr. had the whole process mapped out when Clinton took office. "CLINTON DECIMATED THE MILITARY!" they say :eyes: The fact that they so quickly forget who downsized the military just goes to show how little resonance expressions like "peace dividend" have with folks on the right.

[davepc]

10. Though republicans used it against him it was also symptomatic

of the problem. Clinton simply kept Bush Sr. military plans in place, and didn't do any serious re-evaluations.

Was there any serious talks about disbanding NATO or drawing down US troop commitments in Europe that had no already been kicked around Bush Sr. white house?

Les Aspin was a hard core cold warrior and supported Reaganite military policy. William Perry didn't bring any new ideas to the table, and William Cohen was a Republican.


Clinton's military policy was given over to old school Cold Warriors or people familiar with the status-quo and who had no initiative to re-examine or restructure US Military postures and policies.

In the time when it needed the most attention (the immediate post cold war years of 93 on) it was neglected.

When Bush Jr. got into office he had ample access to a Cold War military structure that could easily be transmuted from a deterrence force into an instrument of global empire.

[NewJeffCT]

6. China, North Korea, Venezuela?

I can see embassy guards... unless they are counting Taiwan for China?

Norway? Sweden? Finland? Russia? Portugal?

[Bigmack]

9. The parallels with Rome don't stop there...

... the armies of Rome came to be filled with non-Romans

... few real Romans wanted to serve in the army.

...Christianity took over as the state religion.

... Rome declined because the "barbarians" learned how to be more "Roman" than the Romans.

... Rome ceased to make things, preferring to import them.

... the lower class ceased to support Rome since they had little hope of moving up.

... tax revenues fell because fewer Romans were either poor, and had nothing to tax, and the rich
avoided taxes entirely.

... purchasing power fell for the average Roman.

... Empire got too bid and unwieldy for one state to manage.

and on and on and on.

Hang on tight, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!