A Monitor editorial this week focuses on the deadline for compliance with the Kyoto agreement, and some anxiety by European countries over its implementation.

In the meantime, emissions continue to rise, as noted in an annual report by the European Environment Agency. Additional data on the generation of man-made emissions in OECD countries, total and per capita, may be found at the following OECD report.

Europe and the United States look at terrorism in different ways, writes Howard LaFranchi in an article this week. Europe views it as more of a crime to be contained, a law-enforcement issue. The US views it as a threat to freedom. The article concludes with a partial quote from President Bush, who has been implying that certain presidential candidates look at terrorism as the Europeans do. Here is the full quote, at a fundraiser last month:

"Some of our opponents are skeptical that the war on terror is really a war at all. They view terrorism more as a crime, a problem to be solved with law enforcement and indictments. Our nation followed that approach after the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993. The matter was handled in the courts, and thought by some to be settled. Terrorists were still training in Afghanistan, still plotting in other nations, and drawing up more ambitious plans. After the chaos and carnage of September the 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers. With those attacks, the terrorists and supporters declared war on the United States of America, and war is what they got. (Applause.)"

To find such quotes by the president and other elected officials, the web site Project Vote-Smart allows users to Search Public Statements.

Another website featuring public statements of the president as well as others in his administration is Iraq on the Record presented by US Rep. Henry Waxman. It specifically includes statements about Iraq's unconventional weapons prior to and after the military campaign began in Iraq. (By Leigh Montgomery)

Brad Knickerbocker writes in the March 18 issue of The Christian Science Monitor, "The largest US war effort since Vietnam already is having a major effect on the US military, including the disposition of forces around the world."

The global presence of the US military is large. Very large. In fact, around 70 percent of the world’s countries host US troops of some kind. The official number of active duty personnel, according to Department of Defense numbers released in January 2004, is a little more than 1.4 million. Of those, 435,766 are on duty abroad, including those in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, the Pentagon’s Base Structure Report puts the number of US military facilities around the world at 702, with another 96 in US-held territories.

Agree with him or not, Chalmers Johnson, calls this presence an empire and adds,

These numbers, although staggeringly large, do not begin to cover all the actual bases we occupy globally. The 2003 Base Status Report fails to mention, for instance, any garrisons in Kosovo -- even though it is the site of the huge Camp Bondsteel, built in 1999 and maintained ever since by Kellogg, Brown & Root. The report similarly omits bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan, although the US military has established colossal base structures throughout the so-called arc of instability in the two-and-a-half years since 9/11.

Also missing is the number of contracted personnel from PMCs (private military corporations) like Vinnell Corp., MPRI, or AirScan, Inc. , who, in addition to Kellogg, Brown & Root, work or train in foreign countries, like Colombia or Saudi Arabia, where explosions (two in eight years) ripped through Saudi National Guard buildings which house Vinnell personnel.

For more on the US military presence worldwide, see the following:

US Worldwide Military Bases
After 9/11, U.S. policy built on world bases(by Alan Messmer)