Good points SJF.

Wouldn’t it be great to know just what the threat might be to our nation from aggressors? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have confidence that Australia should follow the Cost Rican example? But we just can’t.

I feel that Oz is a whole lot more vulnerable to attempted takeover than little Costa Rica or Kiwiland…or maybe they will all be highly vulnerable in the coming years of heightened population pressures, desperation and aggression.

So as much as I’d love to condone the dissolution or major windback of our military, so that the resultant enormous free-up of funds could be better spent, I just can’t.

We’ve got to retain a significant military presence, even if it would be ineffectual in the event of an Indonesian or Chinese full-frontal attack. And of course we’ve got to remain in the good books with the big ol’ US of A so that they’ll help us out if we really need it.

But surely we could make our military more civilly useful, so that rather than expending huge sums of money…and oil…on war games, they can gain experience and do some useful civil activity at the same time. Just how this might happen, I’m not sure at the moment. But it’s surely got to have potential.

Pollution from military bases is a world-wide phenomenon.

"The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest polluter in the world, producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined."

Even the most cursory check on the Internet will show the disturbing outcomes in the Phillipines, Panama, Iceland and Okinawa (just to name a few).

The cleanup budget is less than 1% of the total miltary budget and they usually just walk away and leave the mess for others to deal with.

Some of the results are somewhat disturbing.

Perchlorate for example - a rocket fuel component - shows up in womens breast milk, lettuce crops and groundwater, great distances from military bases. This stuff causes mental retardation, loss of hearing and speech and motor skill problems.

Now with the growing incidence of depleted uranium weapons (as tested in Northern Queenland recently) there are new horrors to be faced by future generations.

It seems that they may be killing us in order to protect us.

Depleted Uranium in Queensland? - A very interesting film.

http://www.bsharp.net.au/htm/the-film.htm

I live in Yeppoon, I have only one question. These so called protesters say that they are not anti American and yet when the Singaporians are here doing the exact same thing they are no where to be seen.

Nigel of jerrabombarra says

"The author needs to concentrate on treating warts and swine flu and leave environmental management to the people who have looked after the environment since Federation."

Nigel, can you be more precise?
Can you kindly name these people who have been doing environmental management and looking after the environment since Federation?