Thousands march in latest protest against larger US base in Vicenza, Italy

[struggle4progress]

Source: Associated Press

ROME - Thousands of demonstrators marched peacefully Saturday in the northern Italian city of Vicenza in the latest protest against a planned expansion of a U.S. military base there ...

A protest in February drew tens of thousands of marchers ...

Premier Romano Prodi's .. government has approved the expansion, going ahead with the project despite angry objections from .. Greens and Communists ...

The Ederle base has about 2,900 active duty military personnel. The expansion at the Dal Molin airport, on the other side of town, would allow the U.S. military to move four battalions now based in Germany, raising the number to 5,000 ...

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22273743/

[Lasher]

1. Good. Close the base and get the hell out.

There's lots of US states that would love to have that base moved to their turf.

[glowing]

2. We really need to close world wide bases abroad and bring everyone home.

If any country proposed installing military bases in our country, the people would be up in arms... and if half the people knew anything about our training programs of foreign armies on our own soil, including Pakistan and other highly volatile countries, they would be absolultely crazed. My sis-in-law is dating a man in charge of training foreign soldiers for intelligence and special ops on the same training grounds that our own troops use. I'd say allowing foreign armies to know the mind-set and operational tactics of the US army is fallicy, if not lunacy. I've stated many times to that man, what are you doing? Don't you think its crazy to train these people how we fight... I guess they are somewhat subjective about doing it... He isn't crazy about the program, but at least he can control their training program and control the instruction that they are learning.

Anyway, to me, it seems nuts.

[beltanefauve]

3. Just as we trained

Osama Bin Laden. Just saying.

[eib1]

4. We occupy a vast number of countries.

We must cease to do so.
We must also re-activate the manufacturing base-- everything that we use that's from China should be made in America.
We must cease to keep the oil flowing to other economies not our own.
All this calls for public investment and the dis-empowerment of the "global corporate colossus."
That is something American elites will never allow.
They created the world we live in now.
And we, the people, are stuck with it and a Constitution they hold in extreme contempt.

[Acadia Blue]

5. All that $$$$ we spend in unnecessary places. Just $$$$ for the

military industrial complex.