[purplehaze]

I think keeping troops abroad for a defensive purpose is necessary, but not in all the places we currently have them. I think the world is developing more and more into a global economy as time goes on. Each country depends on others to remain prosperous. One of the main reasons for declaring large scale war in the past was to secure more territory and resources in order to expand your economy. I think most reasonable leaders now realize that expansion will not improve their country due to the world trade market.

This is reason enough for most countries to work together and stay peaceful, without the need for troops as a deterrant. However some dictators care very little about the well being and prosperity of their country and people. You can't scare them by saying if you act aggressively your economy and country will suffer. This is when troops are needed to ensure they will not invade. If the US were to remove all of its overseas bases, it would be a lot harder to deploy troops to strategic areas in the time of crisis. Therefore the threat of American retaliation in the event of a large country invading its neighbor would be a baseless threat.

I really think the global economy is going to cause most major conflicts to cease in the future. The more we become dependant on eachother the less reason there will be to fight. However until the dictatorships and militarily run nations get phased out (which I think will take many years using economic pressure alone) troops will be needed as an effective deterrent. If they were not there I don't see many other deterrents in place to keep dictators from acting as they please.