Comment by pas

defending someone is not a binary thing. the amount of effort, the degree of severity, the number of troops mobilized, the whole question of use of nukes (tactical or strategic)

and there are real problems around bases (~18-20 year olds on leave are going to do what they are usually do anyway)

and the last few decades of US interventionism is not exactly a success story. it was not hard to stir up "anti-imperialist" sentiment