I don't think that that's the whole picture. Those countries use that as an
excuse not to participate in more peace keeping duties, in which the U.S.
has to fill the gaps, by these countries lack of full participation.
Changes in their laws probably will not happen due to their peoples lack of
willingness to participate in cleaning out the "rat nests" of the world. At
least until a few planes drop in an kill a few thousands of their citizens!


"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
link.net...

It angers me to see people in this country trashing Germany, Italy, and
Japan for not spending enough on defense. These countries have little
choice
in the matter. The United States, with allies, set limits on the size and
character of their militaries following WWII. As such, it would take
significant changes to their laws to increase the size and capabilities of
their militaries (changes that would not likely be accepted by the USA,
past
allies, or neighboring countries).

Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/