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276 Comments
- MercyPolitics, on 03/28/2009, -23/+177Bill Maher: " If we had troops from let's say, Guatemala, stationed in the US...just imagine how ape ***** Lou Dobbs and Bill O' Reilly would go..."
- wpc33, on 03/29/2009, -3/+101"I don't think Osama bin Laden sent those planes to attack us because he hated our freedom. I think he did it because of our support for Israel, and our ties with the Saudi family and all our military bases in Saudi Arabia. You know why I think that? Because that's what he ***** said! Are we a nation of 6-year-olds? Answer: yes." — David Cross
- beautifulady, on 03/28/2009, -12/+102There's a downside to that. Actually, Europe is less in need of the US presence than ever before in history, and some analysts believe all those military bases there are obsolete and an unnecessary burden to the economy. Who the hell are we to be the world's policeman, anyway? Is the EU made up of stupid, poor peasants? They can take care of themselves.
The downside is that our ubiquitousness is interpreted by many people as hegemony, especially in light of our behavior. And what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, is it not? How about some German military bases in Kansas, or some Japanese in California? How arrogant America is, to be the self-proclaimed enforcer of moral behavior in the world. - inactive, on 03/29/2009, -16/+89Ron Paul talks with Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation" about how he believes the U.S. has built an empire overseas that is weakening the nation's security and economy.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3486149n - inactive, on 03/28/2009, -13/+83Bill is right, this do as we say - not as we do, just doesn't cut it anymore!
- GroundIsSound, on 03/29/2009, -14/+79I love Bill Maher propensity for sound bites that make ppl furious, he makes it look so effortless
- JenniferInMO, on 03/29/2009, -17/+77Yeah, I'm thinking we could use the money we'd save if we would just close down half of our nearly 800 military bases overseas.
- Budzone5000, on 03/28/2009, -7/+53If you don't like him, why are you watching him? I think he is wonderfully warped!
- amy31415, on 03/29/2009, -11/+52Guess who's been saying that same thing for years?
- Dennisisok, on 03/29/2009, -8/+46Common sense? On my TV?
I thought this was America! - clvngodess, on 03/29/2009, -2/+40Ha ha ha! or perhaps should I say "¡ja ja ja!"
- clvngodess, on 03/29/2009, -11/+42One of my best friends is from South Korea. It's interesting to hear her take on America being the "rock n roll authoritarians of the world." Meaning that our general consensus or world view is so "rock n roll," without any real world culture or understanding of the rest of civilization. (WE are not IT) It's all so "advertorial" pop culture, even when we attempt to be cultured, we're so crass to many outside of our own rock n roll culture. The US is so new in juxtaposition to the rest of the world, which doesn't make us the wisest or the bestest or freshest pick me upest. We really need to realize that the rest of the world really may not want us or need us or our little rendition of how it's all supposed to be. In fact, it may do the US and its culture some good to learn about the rest of the world before it sticks its nose, business, guns and democrazy down everyone else's throats.
- zumpiez, on 03/29/2009, -8/+39Profanity filter is there for a reason. If you don't like seeing people say *****, turn it on. ***** ***** ***** ***** *****.
- Deject, on 03/29/2009, -13/+41Ron Paul is not a fictional character...
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -1/+29Only if you're trying to convey some sort of idea.
- michaelpinto, on 03/28/2009, -50/+77If you think that North Korea has peaceful intentions then you should talk to somebody in South Korea, or better yet meet someone in Japan who has had a family member abducted. If you think that Taiwan doesn't appreciate American aircraft carriers stopping an invasion from China maybe you should talk to somebody who lives there. And if you think American forces should leave Europe talk to somebody in Ukraine or Poland. Those US military forces have been giving the world a somewhat stable economy in the post WWII era - it's far from perfect but the alternative might be quite ugly.
- beautifulady, on 03/29/2009, -6/+33Maybe we don't need to do that anymore. Wouldn't that be a relief to everyone, especially to us as taxpayers? This is the whole point. If we closed the military bases in Europe alone, the money saved would be enough to make a big contribution to paying for health care or education here in the US. Who knows where this money is going to come from, especially with Obama insisting on increasing military activity in Afghanistan. It's funny how there is always money to kill people, but never enough to help them. We could cut the US military in half and it would still be the largest in the world.
- Altair27, on 03/29/2009, -11/+36Is it Jesus?
Or Ron Paul?
Oh wait, those are synonymous on digg... - skeptictank, on 03/29/2009, -0/+24You got the best quote of the whole segment wrong. "Lou Dobbs would become a suicide bomber." That cracked me up.
- makkaveli19, on 03/29/2009, -9/+32umm, wasn't this the reason osama was furious with the states and launched the 9/11 attacks?
- noangelcame, on 03/29/2009, -2/+25Bill O'reilly would spill his mutha ***** ice-tea!
- JBrown99, on 03/29/2009, -5/+28Ron Paul.
- peestandingup, on 03/29/2009, -1/+23I swear, youtube ***** up the audio sync in about half its videos I bet.
They need to either get it right or stop supporting so many damn upload formats which they obviously cant encode well. - normlsparky, on 03/29/2009, -4/+26If they want us there to protect them, they shouldn't have a problem with footing the bill for it. Instead, the US taxpayers pick up the tab.
- wtrwlkr, on 03/29/2009, -1/+22Not sure about Germany, but i'm stationed in Japan and according to the Japanese constitution, they're prohibited from maintaining a military. They have a "self defense force" but they rely on the U.S. to supplement their defensive capabilities. The main threat in that region is N. Korea. Once that situation calms down, I'd support a drawdown of Japan but not before.
- kinerry, on 03/29/2009, -2/+23His name starts with RON and ends with PAUL
- jitterbits, on 03/29/2009, -3/+23lol, are you serious? Did I just walk into church or something? I'm sorry, I thought this was the internet. For your sake, I hope you can toughen up. There a distinct possibility you will eventually run across tubgirl and her ilk
- joebus, on 03/29/2009, -6/+26I'm pretty sure the reason why we kept troops in Germany and Japan for so long is because of the U.S.S.R. and the Cold War, threat of invasion of Western Europe, etc. Although now that the Cold War is over it doesn't make as much sense anymore.
- clvngodess, on 03/29/2009, -3/+22Didn't work when our parents said it...
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -1/+20Do you actually know him "as a person" or are you speaking more in terms of your impressions of him from seeing him on tv?
- aijazbaig1, on 03/29/2009, -10/+29America brought saddam to power in 1963 as the other guy was not towing the US line there then.
For a short summary of washington's involvement in Iraqi internal politics since the 60s, please have a look here:
A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making on the NY times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/14/opinion/a-tyrant ...
FTA:
The Iraqi leader seen as a grave threat in 1963 was Abdel Karim Kassem, a general who five years earlier had deposed the Western-allied Iraqi monarchy. Washington's role in the coup went unreported at the time and has been little noted since. America's anti-Kassem intrigue has been widely substantiated, however, in disclosures by the Senate Committee on Intelligence and in the work of journalists and historians like David Wise, an authority on the C.I.A.
FTA:
The United States also sent arms to the new regime, weapons later used against the same Kurdish insurgents the United States had backed against Kassem and then abandoned. Soon, Western corporations like Mobil, Bechtel and British Petroleum were doing business with Baghdad -- for American firms, their first major involvement in Iraq.
Also FTA:
This history is known to many in the Middle East and Europe, though few Americans are acquainted with it, much less understand it. Yet these interventions help explain why United States policy is viewed with some cynicism abroad. George W. Bush is not the first American president to seek regime change in Iraq. Mr. Bush and his advisers are following a familiar pattern.
And this has been the same Saddam who then became "evil" when he stopped listening to his overlords in DC.
This is the classic "shadow empire" that the US has very tight control over but it has been so well hidden from the american masses that it hardly gets any attention. All the talk of bringing democracy, a country's sovereignty is all but BS. And since america has been playing God in the Mid east since the 50s, its no wonder 9/11 happened. It was a really sad day but with so many lives the US had been playin with in that part of the world, they deserved it. - beautifulady, on 03/29/2009, -7/+24@momomathew, Reality has changed drastically since WWII and Korea, or haven't you noticed? We do not need huge military bases in Japan and Korea. No other country in the world has military bases outside of its own borders except for the US. We are the world's policeman, deciding what is good and what is evil, and we demand that the world allow us to play that role.
Spreading democracy turned out to be our flimsiest excuse for invading another country, that is, after we pulled our foot out of our mouth when we asserted those WMD's were there. If we were interested in spreading democracy, why have we supported dictatorships all over the world for many years? If we are such champions of justice, why do we support illegal military occupations? If we care about human rights, why do we turn our backs when there is genocide, except when we choose to participate in it?
You see, there are two sides here. Your point of view comes from eighth grade social studies class. That is hardly "real history." - HubrisDeadPan, on 03/29/2009, -0/+17The ***** dude? That is NOT what america started out to be, or is intended to be. That isn't even what we are. We control the world's oceans? Whaaaaat?
- Gareth321, on 03/29/2009, -5/+22This is a fair point. China scares the crap out of me. Any country that accepts free trade with them needs to reconsider what they're doing. This includes America and my country, New Zealand.
- mrsteveman1, on 03/29/2009, -1/+18Ever heard of P.N.A.C, the people who had SUBSTANTIAL influence over the last admin, and whose members have been intimately involved in government operation since the 70's?
They explicitly state that it IS our job to police the world.
" The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle.
The Project for the New American Century intends, through issue briefs, research papers, advocacy journalism, conferences, and seminars, to explain what American world leadership entails. It will also strive to rally support for a vigorous and principled policy of American international involvement and to stimulate useful public debate on foreign and defense policy and America's role in the world.
William Kristol, Chairman"
http://www.newamericancentury.org/ - dirtymerkin, on 03/29/2009, -1/+17I grew up in a small town in the U.S., and I wouldn't mind having some kind of stable economic factor close to home.
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -3/+18I think you're making a mistake to conflate the presence of U.S. troops with "global leadership".
I also think it's strange to suggest that if the U.S. troops pulled out of, say Germany, that the Chinese would somehow "fill the void". Firstly it's questionable that such a void would exist as the presence of the troops there doesn't appear to fulfill any actual need, and secondly it seems far more likely that any such void would be filled by German interests, not Chinese. - c010rb1indusa, on 03/29/2009, -1/+16+ $600 billion a year (not including wars)
Less than $100 billion for education
something's backwards in this country... - yeahwhatever58, on 03/29/2009, -2/+16beautifulady-
Just a few corrections for you...
"We could cut the US military in half and it would still be the largest in the world."
This is not accurate. The United States has the second largest military in the world. China has the largest military with almost 1 million more active military personnel. Also, out of the 5 largest militaries in the world which are the only ones with over 1 million active personnel, the United States is only ranked 3rd in the amount of active service personnel per 1,000 citizens of their country. North Korea is ranked #1, followed by Russia, then the US, then China, and then India. The moral of this story is that there are countries out there that take their military serious. Some of these countries can be construed as not really our best friends and where we are not at war with them, we still need to exercise caution.
"No other country in the world has military bases outside of its own borders except for the US."
This is not totally accurate either. We do have about 95% of the foreign bases out there but England, Russia, China, Italy, and France also have foreign bases outside their territory. - clvngodess, on 03/29/2009, -9/+23I'd do him.
- wtrwlkr, on 03/29/2009, -0/+13Yes, due to the aggressive nature of the Japanese during WWII. The Japanese people, however have had a referendum on that very subject a number of times and they voted to keep that rule in the constitution every time.
- maledei, on 03/29/2009, -1/+14I grew up in a small german town (Schweinfurt) where 1/4 of the population were american troops stationed there. While there was the occasional rape-scare (dads wouldn't let their doughters near the barracks), after the heavy industry went down in the early 90s the troops were the only stable economic factor in the town.
The bush administration talked about moving all the troups out of germany further east, where it's cheaper and they were nearer to the middle east, and this was understood as a catastrophy for our town.
They are really no security factor (theres no scare of the evil russian invading germany since 89), but you won't hear german politicians calling for a removal of the troops. - teamgwho, on 03/29/2009, -0/+13I'd straighten my tie and never speak of it again.
- rabidjester, on 03/29/2009, -1/+14I agree wholeheartedly, but damn I hate the word homeland. Creeps me out a bit whenever I hear a politician say it.
- novenator, on 03/29/2009, -3/+16The US needs to adopt a purely defensive 'defense' posture. No more, or very limited bases overseas, a draw down of our military might (which is too expensive even by the standards of conservatives), and a homeland-first ideology.
- TigerStar337, on 03/29/2009, -2/+14List of countries with USA troop levels:
http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/his ...
China has 0 troops outside it's borders. - Tyrghast, on 03/29/2009, -3/+15The Founding Father's intended for the American military to never leave America's shores. We were supposed to maintain political nonintervention with other countries, only economic participation.
- graphictruth, on 03/29/2009, -7/+19@clvngodess But Anne Coulter was there first. *SO* ewww!
- fenderbiz, on 03/29/2009, -6/+17Please reserve quotation marks for actual quotes.
- Phernoree, on 03/29/2009, -4/+15Let's start by getting rid of some of that nonsense in Germany. Last time I checked, Hitler and Stalin were dead.
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3305/germanbases. ... -
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