Neato-Quito

I say go ahead and let them have their base here.

NAPLES (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa said Washington must let him open a military base in Miami if the United States wants to keep using an air base on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

Correa has refused to renew Washington's lease on the Manta air base, set to expire in 2009. U.S. officials say it is vital for counter-narcotics surveillance operations on Pacific drug-running routes.

"We'll renew the base on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami -- an Ecuadorean base," Correa said in an interview during a trip to Italy.

"If there's no problem having foreign soldiers on a country's soil, surely they'll let us have an Ecuadorean base in the United States."

Seems like they would be spending a lot of money for a Miami area base. Perhaps some Ecuadorean restaurants would open up near the base for off-duty Ecuadorean troops. Anyway, it’s not like Ecuador is a military threat. Foreign military bases might turn into a growth industry that could help balance the trade deficit. And if we decided to attack another country that isn’t a threat to us, we won’t have so far to go.