TheFundamentals is disappointed that there is limited discussion about the overseas deployment of US military personnel. We publish the following information about deployment which is sourced from Wikipedia and is dated as of March 31, 2008. We intend to update this information as soon as we are able to identify a reliable source with more current data:
Iraq 142,000
Europe 84,500
East Asia/Pacific 70,700
300,000+ US Military personnel are located in 39 separate countries around the globe.
How many China military personnel are stationed in foreign countries? India? Europe? These are the three most populous countries/regions in the world. The US is fourth followed by Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Russia, Japan and Mexico. The US has more troops (double) stationed overseas than all the other nations combined. Why? Does this make sense? Where do Indians and Chinese send their troops? Russia and Japan? How about Mexico? Does Nigeria send its military personnel to other countries?
American is a democracy. The people rule through their elected representatives and senators. Do the representatives and senators reflect the electorate in no debating/questioning/discussing this use of these resources? Are we just willing to let bureaucracies do what they tell us needs to be done? Why don’t we constantly question their activities? Does it make sense to have 300,000+ Marines, Army, Navy and Air Force personnel in 39 countries? Why do we do this? Why is this cost/deployment/tactical use of American taxpayer resources not debated constantly? What are we doing? We have no money. Every time we do something we borrow or print money to do it? Are we just the world’s most paranoid people? Do we talk superpower but not really believe it? Are we terrified of the NKoreans and the Iranians and anyone else the bureaucrats spook us about? What are we doing?
In 2009 the US spent almost $1 trillion on military/defense activities. We borrowed every cent of it!
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