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Show - " , i Military bases stretch to corner of globe i The "Defense Monitor," a publication from the Center of Defense Information, has published an interesting article about the extent of the global network of United- States Military Bases. The United States is the only country in the world with a network of military bases and support installations that stretch into every comer of the globe. The network includes 375 major bases and hundreds of minor installations in 35 foreign countries. coun-tries. In total, almost one million U.S. citizens, including about 500,000 military personnel and 450,000 civilian Defense Department employees and dependent family members are stationed at U.S. military bases in foreign countries. - 7 ; It would appear that in today's world of rapid communications, communica-tions, sophisticated spying devices and high tech weapons that the foreign bases represpt' an ehbrrriou's expenditure' of 'tax1"" dollar that might be better srjent dsewhere.' J; 1 ' Aside from the direct outlay of money to support and maintain main-tain the bases, there are a million citizens who could be supporting suppor-ting the economies of towns in the United States instead of in a foreign country. Tourists are.heavily penalized when they overspend their allowance when visiting foreign countries, the rationale being to stop the drain of U.S. dollars to . foreign countries. A bigger culprit of excessive overseas spending it appears is the government itself. - The oldest bases abroad are in the Philippines and Cuba. Many people are surprised to learn that 2,300 U.S. servicemen are stationed at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. ' . Cuban nationals work , on the base, earning more U.S. doUars. The Marcos government of the Philippines received over $2 billion in U.S. aid before his ouster in 1986, partly in return for bases. About 50 percent of U.S. forces stationed overseas, about 249,000 troops are stationed in West Germany. U.S. Forces in West Germany and South Korea are said to serve as a "trip . : wire" because their presence there ensures that an attack on either country would result inr U.S, involvement. However, U.S. forces in South Korea are not necessary to defend against an attack by North Korea. South Korea is strong enough to de-' fend itself. It has twice the population of North Korea and five times the economic power. Should a third country join forces to help North Korea invade South Korea, the United States would be involved any way, . v ,;,',.,', AcareMlookat .' States ecbnbmic fbrces aiid througji it "a dram on me taxpayer ; ' of the United States. Most of the need for foreign bases to fight a nuclear war has been eliminated by intercontinental-range missiles and bombers. Many of the U.S. bases are located in Japan, Korea, West Germany and other countries capable of i providing their own defense. In addition, many host countries no longer are pleased with the presence of U.S. military bases on their soil. Most either actively oppose the bases or are asking ask-ing for larger and larger payments, U.S. military aid to Portugal Por-tugal increased from $1 17 in 1988 to $150 million in 1989, for example. . -y Think about it Are we protecting ourselves or is this another case of the American taxpayer supporting programs he has little knowledge of and even less say? |