U.S. Troops Have Been Abroad for Too Long
Re “Bush Unveils Plan to Move Troops Home,” Aug. 17: Withdrawing and relocating some of our troops will be too little, too late and will take too long. Nobody appointed us policemen of the world, and our costly, ugly and arrogant military ubiquity is resented by friend and foe.
Our military presence in the Middle East to protect our oil supply and the Saudi monarchy was one of Osama bin Laden’s main grievances. Importing gluttonous amounts of oil and squandering it is not only causing deadly amounts of pollution, a cancer pandemic and greenhouse gases, it’s giving us record trade deficits.
Our military men and women will be needed here, not on the other side of the world. This is not the 1950s. The Russians are not going to attack Europe, and who is going to attack Japan? Can’t one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world defend itself by now? Come home and make the world a little safer and our country more secure.
Don Johnson
Minneapolis
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