AIBU to think overseas American and UK bases should close?

Not something that i would agree with. Not all counties are our friends and we dont live in a peaceful world. And countries can be our friend one day and turn into enemies the next day.

They are still an ally, a global major player and someone to keep on our side.

There'd be large fallout. Firstly on intelligence and defense. There'd be a hurt in economic activity in these areas as well. And diplomatically this would hurt us.

The Harry Dunn thing was a very sad but incredibly rare tragedy.

I am completely serious.
The United States has a long history of funding, arming and training such groups.
Just one example of many: the CIA funded and supported Osama Bin Laden for many years!

For many years, the US Army/ CIA operated the School of the Americas, in order to train people to carry out coups (usually against popular left-wing leaders) and set up dictatatorships across Central and South America - its alumni include such lovely characters as Noriega (drug-lord and unelected dictator of Panama), Banzer Suarez (right-wing Bolivian dictator). Lots of repression, human rights abuses and millions of people killed/ disappeared or forced to flee and seek asylum.

@Longtimelurkerfinallyposts
Is there anything that the state of Iran does which the US doesn't also do?

Execution for homosexuality,
Flogging, amputation and stoning as a court sentence.
Execution of juvenile offenders (US abolished in 2005, far too late. Iran continues)
Bars religious minorities from university and govt employment,
Women imprisoned, beaten, and killed for no hijab.
Hostage diplomacy
Theocratic veto over all branches of govt.
Assassination of dissidents at home and abroad.
Targeting Jewish community centres, synagogues, and diaspora globally
Proxy terrorism across the Middle East

Iran does not go out attacking other states with the aim of illegally occupying them, stealing their land/ houses/ resources, desecrating ancient monuments/ libraries/ religious sites [...and environmental harm].

How much do you know about Iran? It controls, via proxies, lots of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. In Syria displacing Sunni populations and doing lots of looting. Iraq desecration of Mosul mosques and shrines by Shia militia. It's one of the world's top oil producers (as is the US, of course). And only last week I was reading about the Iranian water crisis which is affecting millions and undermining agriculture.

You are welcome to find lots wrong with the US. You don't need to whitewash the Tehran regime to do so.

Beyond time. It's clear that Trump has no use for NATO and so far from coming to its defence has actually threatened one of its founding members with invasion : Denmark. Mark Carney is right, nostalgia isn't a strategy.

Are you serious. Iran has been funding arming and training hamas, hezbola, the PLO and many other terrorist organisations with the aim of converting the population and or taking control of that country since the revolution.

Who carried out kneecapping?
Who ran drugs rackets in the housing schemes?
Who covered up child abuse amongst high up personnel?
Who blew up Christmas shoppers outside Harrods?
Who blew up a crowd at a remembrance parade?
Who targeted children in Warrington and Manchester?

Zombie.

Three for three wrong, I think.

The US is not a theocracy. Trump isn't even particularly religious. It's also absurd to compare how the US treats political dissidents to how Iran, DPRK, Russia does. In fact, you have stronger rights to politically dissent in the US than almost anywhere else on earth. And 'has nuclear weapons' does not make a state a rogue state.

I don't like how the US handled Afghan or Iraq. I'm not sure what Trump is trying to do with Russia and DPRK and suspect he doesn't really know either (but Trump is certainly not looking for a Russian win). But that is not the question in point. The question is whether we should want the US to withdraw from all its overseas bases, i.e. to cease to be a global power. I think that would be much worse, for all the reasons I've stated, including or especially for weaker people and states.

"Rogue state is usually what we call the likes of Iran..."
And why is that exactly?
Is there anything that the state of Iran does which the US doesn't also do?
Never mind Israel, the most rogue state going....

I note that unlike them, Iran does not go out attacking other states with the aim of illegally occupying them, stealing their land/ houses/ resources, desecrating ancient monuments/ libraries/ religious sites, killing the people and animals who live there, or leaving the land so polluted that it can't be safely used to grow anything.

Anyone who claims to care about the planet might want to watch this film:
4
And learn about the many heart-breaking ways in which the US Empire is destroying the ecosystems we all rely on for life, on an almost unimaginable scale. It's accountable to nobody at all, and most certainly not the American tax-payers who are funding it all.

Rogue state is usually what we call the likes of Iran, DPRK, Russia.

Yes, exactly. Look at all the statements that the administration has made about Iran. A theocracy which shoots protestors, threatens its neighbours and has nuclear weapons. If the cap fits, wear it.

Look at the utter cack-handed handling of Afghanistan and Iraq. Look how they've been backing Russia against Ukraine recently. And the DPRK? Trump was very admiring of Kim Jong Un, because he's everything Trump wants to be.

Do leave off. 🙄

Yes, you are being unreasonable.

These overseas bases form an essential part of our defence - particularly if, as seems likely, the USA pull out of NATO and the Europeans - including for this purpose the U.K. - actually have to think about and fund our own defence which has been heavily subsidised by the US for years.

Lay off on the OP! You know what she means - to many people in N Ireland, the occupation by British troops was seen as just that, an occupation of disputed territory that they didn't think should be considered part of the UK at all. In any case, she used the word "overseas" and the Irish sea is indisputably there.

Interestingly, many of the British involved in the torture of Irish citizens had done the exact same thing earlier, in a different overseas military base. But don't just take my word for it. The British Govt has since admitted that this happened, and even the BBC reported it at the time: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19843719
The Govt ended up paying costs and compensation of almost £20million to Kikuyu survivors.

A lot of this was covered up for decades, with many records being burnt and others taken to London and buried in secret archives. This didn't just happen in Kenya, but in other colonies where the British had bases.
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/18/uncovering-truth-british-empire-caroline-elkins-mau-mau
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-29/mau-mau-kenyan-resistance-group-secret-british-files/104136814
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/how-the-british-treated-hardcore-mau-mau-women

What "special relationship"? When was the last time the UK benefited? Were they on our side over Suez? I don't recall the US going in when a military junta invaded British sovereign soil either. Obama described Germany as the US's closest international partner. I do however recall a British PM following Bush around like a poodle. It seems very one-sided to me.

At least if the American military are kicked out from bases in the UK, the roads surrounding them will be a lot safer.

The French never trusted them, Charles de Gaulle was right all along.

Rogue state is usually what we call the likes of Iran, DPRK, Russia. I don't think the US is anywhere near that category. I suppose it's a bit like the Met police. Yes, lots and lots of failings. But massively better to have than not, especially if you are relatively vulnerable (i.e. China might prefer the US to hand in its world-police badge, though even that is nuanced. No other Asian nation would want it. Fine to do away with the police if you live in a nice gated community and can afford your own protection. Not fine to do away with the police if you are basically anyone else). Unless you have a different police force ready to police London, foolish to argue for its abolition.

The premise of the AIBU was quite a good one.
But then the OP quickly exposed themselves as more deranged and biased then DJT himself.

The US is a rogue state. Its conduct has been questionable for the last 70 years but now the mask has slipped entirely.

B minus, must try harder.

The special relationship and geopolitics is worth much more than one madman in the white house.

Oh cut it out with the victim mentality.

I suppose. But we don't make it easy. UK vs GB is table stakes. A British passport can denote six different types of citizenship status, with further subvariants within that (i.e. that's six even if you count UK and Jersey and Guernsey and Manx as the same thing, which they aren't).

We literally called our UK Olympic team Team GB 😬

I agree with standing up to Russia. I also think that was the main point of Nato, which is heavily reliant on the US. Belated, Europe is realising it needs to build military capacity, but it is very little, very late. I'm not sure that Taiwan would fight at all, if it knew it had no US support. Maybe it would, but it could not present a credible threat to hold off China indefinitely.

My main worry though isn't about isolated individual theatres, but that the lack of the US would lead everyone to remilitarise, which be a net loss for almost everyone. Even China would probably see it as a loss: they don't want East Asia remilitarising against them, nor do they want the costs of policing global trade.

We invented police for a reason. Much better have one than not. And if we are going to have one, there isn't a credible alternative to the US. International institutions like the UN play some role, but can't deliver the full package, e.g. global freedom of navigation patrols, the ability to credibly threaten P5 members as well as smaller powers, etc. So we are left with the US. Which, for all its many faults, is still the most humane superpower the world has yet seen. We should be very cautious indeed before we wish it away.

You do know there's continuous Irish defence force presence abroad?

We can see how Russia behaves, and we can see that Russia has become completely bogged down by a much smaller country (one for which the US has provided sod all support in the last year, by the way). Russia prodded Turkey and lost an aircraft - they haven't tried since. They're a paper tiger, stand up to them and they back down.

Taiwan is more of a concern but that doesn't mean that it would be easy for the Chinese to take even without US support. The Taiwanese military is not to be underestimated and they'd have a defensive advantage. One diesel-electric submarine can wreak havoc among a fleet, the US Navy is notoriously poor at ASW and I wouldn't be surprised if this is a weakness for the Chinese too. The Taiwanese would also do well to get in touch with the Ukrainians and ask for their drone expertise. I notice that the Arab states are looking to Ukraine for help in that field, not the US.