On his recent trip abroad, Mitt Romney observed an American taboo by not criticizing President Obama's military policy. But before his trip, he made his position clear. Obama has "exposed the military to cuts that no one can justify," Romney said.

He meant that unless Congress intervenes, Pentagon spending will be cut by more than $500 billion over 10 years under the (bipartisan) budget sequestration scheduled for January. This terrifies those who fear that limiting the growth of the military-industrial complex will leave us less safe.

But is that true? Even if $500 billion is actually cut, America still will spend more on defense -- adjusted for inflation -- than we did at the height of the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

We station soldiers all over the globe. Thousands of U.S. troops are in Germany, Japan, the UK and Italy. Why? I thought we won World War II.

We built an air force base in Greenland to monitor the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Why are we there now?