Originally posted by hazed-
martlet you made the statement the US can do whatever it liked, you at first DID NOT say solely US bases and even if you did you seem to be ignoring the fact that wherever your bases are they are used under treaty or agreement with those countries. If Italy and spain and the UK decided to agree with the French and German governments and refused to allow strikes to be launched from those bases they would simply not be used.What gets all of our backs up is the arrogant manner in which you imply the US can do whatever it likes.You have what seems to me either ignored your history lessons or simply choose not to see how obsurd your statement was.
Just for instance lets say the UK said no to launches on iraq from UK. what would you say would happen?
I say your bases in UK wold not be used.You obviously think somehow the US would just use them regardless?.
this is the point being made. Not anything more than basically:
'Martlet that was a dumb statement'
All i see is you trying your best to not admit it. 'I only meant US bases' etc is you doing exactly what you accused dowding of doing.
Sure you guys can apply pressure in political ways or financial but you simply cannot just do whatever the hell you like from whatever base you have and neither for that matter can any other country. Naso im aware of treaties etc and i agree you are correct. Legally speaking the US have the right to use their bases as they see fit but what im saying is they will ultimately bow to whatever public opinion is shown in those regions, same as all of us.They just have a bit more financial clout to try to force an issue.
Forgive me but I was of the opinion that if there was EVER a country that bows to a public opinion over a conflict its the US.
Look at vietnam and somalia. The USA COULD blow the crap outta those countries but they wont will they? Its this basic knowledge that makes martlets 'we can do whatever we like' crap so infantile.
I see that I didn't say "US bases", but it WAS what I meant. Obviously, the US can't just storm into another country and use their bases.
And you are right, most bases were originally granted under treaty, or some similar agreement. For example, perhaps you participated in aggression against the rest of the world, and you got your butt kicked. We'll drop a base or 2 smack in the middle of your country. Bugger off if you don't like it.
And you are right about america not wanting to go against the will of a host nation. We will rarely dishonor the wishes of a country in which we have a base. It creates far more trouble than its worth. My point was in response to (and I can't even remember who said it now, but it's in this thread) someone saying that "Italy forbid the US from using their airspace to launch attacks.....blah blah blah......well, they did anyway, but we sure are mad about it". I simply said we'll do what we want, as we did in that case.
