NATO Patrols American Skies.Question: What do Kosovo, Iraq, and the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. all have in common? Answer: All three are patrolled by foreign military forces under NATO/UN command. Many Americans were shocked to learn that, on October 12th, foreign military forces, in the form of five NATO NATO: see North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. AWACS AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) Mobile, long-range radar surveillance-and-control centre for air defense. Used by the U.S. Air Force since 1977, AWACS is mounted in a specially modified Boeing 707 aircraft, with its main radar antenna affixed to a rotating dome. planes dispatched from a base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, began cruising American skies to assist in the defense of the American homeland. The last time anything like that happened, Prussia's Baron von Steuben was teaching military discipline to the Continental Army at Valley Forge Valley Forge, on the Schuylkill River, SE Pa., NW of Philadelphia. There, during the American Revolution, the main camp of the Continental Army was established (Dec., 1777–June, 1778) under the command of Gen. George Washington. . As Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) observed, "for the first time in American history, we are unable to defend our own borders and skies.... It is tragic that our interventionist foreign policy has spread our military forces so thin.... How much longer can we continue to defend so many other nations, but not our own?" Our ability to defend our own borders, though, isn't the only issue at stake. At least as important is the dangerous new concession of sovereignty entailed by allowing foreign forces to patrol our skies. "National security," Congressman Paul remarked, "is the most basic sovereign duty of the federal government in our constitutional republic. Neither Congress nor the president can cede that duty to a foreign nation or body. We cannot allow the security of our own borders to become the responsibility of any coalition or international organization, whether it's NATO or the United Nations." Internationalist in·ter·na·tion·al·ism n. 1. The condition or quality of being international in character, principles, concern, or attitude. 2. A policy or practice of cooperation among nations, especially in politics and economic matters. policymakers know this, of course, which is why they're so eager to establish a precedent -- albeit a muted one -- of foreign forces "helping" the United States defend her borders. More important than the reality -- five AWACS planes will only minimally augment America's still-robust self-defense capabilities -- is the symbolism Symbolism In art, a loosely organized movement that flourished in the 1880s and '90s and was closely related to the Symbolist movement in literature. In reaction against both Realism and Impressionism, Symbolist painters stressed art's subjective, symbolic, and decorative of the event. If we allow foreign-based airborne surveillance today, why not permanent NATO or UN military bases tomorrow? As Kurt Hackemer, professor of military history at the University of South Dakota Nomenclature
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