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Check out US presence worldwide

Mother Jones has an interesting visual [map, actually] pin-pointing where the US is present around the globe - here.

"In fact, our research shows there are relatively few places on the planet where the US military isn't active in some way. American soldiers regularly rotate in and out of key locations on humanitarian and training missions. From weapons to cash to attendance at US military conferences, from researching tropical diseases to extending host-nation runways to building ports, the Pentagon is there to help—in exchange for a little help from our friends: overflight and basing rights, port privileges, and legal immunity for the troops. (See "How to Stay in Iraq for 1,000 Years.")

Where the US military doesn't tread, it funds. Indeed, humanitarian and military aid from the United States have proved most useful in coaxing foreign countries to give us what we ask for. It's no accident that 22 percent of US foreign aid, as Joshua Kurlantzick reports in our September/October issue, now flows directly through the Pentagon. Conversely, the US Agency for International Development funds military training in a number of countries."

Read the complete analysis "Mission Creep" on Mother Jones here.

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