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737 US Military Bases = Global Empire

The figures are truly staggering:

"The worldwide total of U.S. military personnel in 2005, including those based domestically, was 1,840,062 supported by an additional 473,306 Defense Department civil service employees and 203,328 local hires. Its overseas bases, according to the Pentagon, contained 32,327 barracks, hangars, hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and 16,527 more that it leased. The size of these holdings was recorded in the inventory as covering 687,347 acres overseas and 29,819,492 acres worldwide, making the Pentagon easily one of the world's largest landlords."

The premise of a piece on AlterNet is that with all that American military personnel across the planet, and military bases spread across each continent, it's time to face up to the fact that American democracy has spawned a global empire.

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