SIR – Following last Tuesday’s helicopter crash at a military base in Norfolk killing four soldiers, I was left with one question in my mind – why are there US military bases in this country? The US has around 1,000 bases across the globe situated in over 100 countries. Why is this?

Most of these US bases are situated in the Middle East, in fact the countries that they’ve “liberated” like Afghanistan and Iraq now possess them as well.

In regard to the ones in this country, you could argue that they stemmed from the Second World War – that was nearly 70 years ago. You could also try the Cold War excuse that ended nearly 25 years ago.

I say that there is no excuse for any nation having military bases in any other country.

Would Britain stand for a Chinese military base in western Europe or would the US stand for a Russian base in Canada?

Of course not, therefore we should allow no US bases here just like South American countries have managed to achieve collectively over the last decade or so.

Max Hey, Fairway Grove, Bradford