Do you think our military should remain in over 100 countries in the world?

Question

Should we continue to be the world's policeman? How much
does it cost to maintain a military presence in so many foreign
countries? How do you assess our presence abroad as
opposed to our ineffectual efforts to protect our own border?

I was hoping to get a handle on the cost. American taxpayers are footing the bill. As an entrepreneur, I know that a business must be cost efficient. While
government is not known for efficiently handling
money, there should be some accountability.

Answer 1

The military presence in most countries is quite small, in many cases probably limited to defense attaches and Marine guards at the embassies. The actual data on deployments can be found at http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/history/hst0706.pdf

But to answer your question: in my opinion, no. I believe we should drastically reduce or eliminate our "forward presence" in the Persian Gulf, Japan (especially Okinawa), South Korea, Guantanamo, Germany, Italy, the U.K., and possibly other places. Some of this is already happening: the U.S. troop presence in Germany, Korea, and Okinawa is already being drawn down and consolidated.

This "forward presence" is based on an erroneous and expansive view of U.S. national security needs. Our European, Asian, and Middle Eastern allies should be spurred to take responsibility for their own defense. The notion that we need to "control" the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf is nonsense. The U.S. military maintains such an overwhelming advantage in weaponry, mobility, and information technology that any truly dangerous adversary can be deterred without large overseas bases. As for terrorism, our forward presence in the Islamic world is more of a boon than a bane to this threat.

Answer 2

yes. we should remain the worlds policeman because if we don't no one else will. if you think the world is chaotic now, it will be horrible if we leave. also, it gives us the ability to
impose our will and the way of life we want onto other nations. i know this sounds like some crazy imperial bull, but our military makes sure that things are kept somewhat under
control. also, having our military in other countries makes it possible to deploy troops anywhere in the world at a moments notice. so if someone attacks our country we can attack theirs without giving them the time to prepare. this makes our dominate military force even more efficient. it is very expensive to keep a military presence around the world but we need to keep the balance of power in our favor at all costs. we also have to be able to protect those that cannot protect themselves.

when it comes to borders. i don't understand why we cant protect our borders. it seems like it is all political and the only reason we don't is because the members of our government want to get the Hispanic vote. there are illegal aliens that vote in this country weather we like it or not. the voting system is so screwed up they can just go in and vote. also, the people who are here and have gained citizenship want to get their family's here. they don't want to wait for them to get legal documents because it could take forever.

i don't think bringing our troops home from abroad would change the situation with our borders. we could easily place a couple national guards units on the border equipped with older vehicles that aren't being used anymore to help the border patrol. this would have two benefits. 1. the national guards soldiers would get real life experience in what could be considered a crisis situation and the government would have more border patrol workers without paying them anymore than their military pay.
i didn't really have much time to think about this answer but thats what i got.

Answer 3

Having soldiers supplies and equipment stationed abroad allows the US quick strike global capabilities. We need this capability to maintain our military might.
As for the worlds police, I'll say this: It is our responsibility, and one of the things that make this country great our feeling of a moral responsibility to help the helpless around the world. We can not help everyone but the good that we do perform everyday is one of the most overlooked and greatest thing this country does. As for the protecting our borders there has not been a major battle fought on our land since the civil war. If you have ever seen a country that is in the turmoil of war (I've seen three with my own eyes) you will know that we have done a great job.

Answer 4

Absolutely.

America cannot be an isolationist country, and our military represents OUR national interests. We like to boast about being the only remaining super-power (not true, China is a rising super-power, but we are a super-power Nation nonetheless), but we won't be one for long if we retreat to inside our own borders! We advise, teach, equip, guide and professionalize many armies around the world. We do this to serve the U.S. interests, and if it helps the other country too, great, it's a win-win situation!

We are nt the "World's Policeman" as some claim, we are a Nation with strong interests in every part of the world and the sheep who live in the U.S. need sheepdogs around the perimeter of the flock to keep them safe from the wolves.

The cost of maintaining our presence around the world is minimal compared to price we would pay if we recalled our troops and buried our collective head in the sand.

Answer 5

yes i think they should stay.....i think however the 100 countries thing is a huge exageration unless your talking about embassy guards and defense attaches....in which case there is military everywhere the US has an embassy. and if you are counting them then hundreds of countries have military sitting right in our nations capital. having military in other countries isnt about policing them......its about being close by for when the s*** hits the fan. alot of the countries we have military in are allies and we do training exercises with their military on a regular basis so we are used to each others strategies and tactics...they know how to use our equipment, we know how to use theirs. those troops that are at those overseas locations are our first line of defense. for instance say north korea (im using them as an example because they are a hostile nation) decides hey were gonna start test firing our long range missiles AGAIN (fyi the last time they crashed into the sea of japan someone did something wrong) the only thing standing betwen north korea and the pacific ocean (and eventually the west coast of the US) is Japan. they start firing, we move troops in and in a matter of hours we can have a pretty convincing sized force ready to go. if we have all our troops in the US it could take days....and by then they could take out Japan completely and be firing on us. you want to risk being hit by what could be an armed nuclear missile on US soil? i certainly dont. plus as for the cost issue, the entire cost isnt footed by the US...many of those countries ( i know japan for sure) foot a portion of the bill for us being there. i was in japan for 3 years and they were all intothe power conservation thing because the japanese government was paying for our electric on base..........amongst many other things.

Answer 6

Having troops in over 100 countries isn't as much about being the worlds policemen as having total global reach. If any country in the world feels they have the cahones to step up to the plate at go against the US we can have troops in their country by supper-time.

Also, many, many of those troops provide humanitarian relief for natural disasters, peace keepiing missions, counter-human trafficking, and counter-drug operations and such, so not only are we the World police, we're also the world doctor, the world negotiator, and the world DEA agent.

Answer 7

What would take its place? Only already vile creeping Islamic militant insurgency which is daily strengthening its hold worldwide in every none Islamic country they are allowed to settle in! In the UK and mainland Europe joining parties and electing their own, winning seats and imposing their Islamic trash on small communities! Buying up clubs, pubs, churches, entertainment halls / closing them / turning them into mosques. Same applies to butchers - converting to alal - against the law in the UK.

Disregarding UK / European US & laws of countless countries the world over. Who will ever stop them? Whats wrong in that they are allowed to freely continue investing the free world with their evil trash and continuing to destroy all hopes of democracy in the Middle East, only permeating the free world in that it is reduced to their same barbaric levels!

They cannot adjust, accept, live side by side with others! Only dominate, destroy, impose. dictate! Yes, we must have and continues to have world police, primarily to contain and destroy what it is they seek to impose!

Answer 8

Forget military, just think of the spies we have... it may not be public but I'm positive we have spies in almost every country, mainly Asia. I'm not sure why but the u.s. is almost out to get the Asia area. This was my teacher's point of view, she said it is likely we're buying all the oil from the mid east to deplete their value then we use our own to screw them over. U.S. wants to be top dog =/.

Maintaining all this will cost us over a million each day, spending money we don't even own. We're on a huge debt alredy... Is it really defending our boarder or eliminating all future threats offensively?

Answer 9

yes, because we are maintaining footholes in those countries so that if a war breaks out (like the one in Iraq) we can have people closer and able to be there quickly and ready.

Answer 10

Whose military?