US: Military Bases Worldwide (Alain de Benoist, France)

Alain de Benoist writes:

Some time ago, John Heelan (30 July) wrote some words about the air
and naval American base of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean. It seems
strange, but the Pentagon is today one of the biggest land owners in
the world. The 737 military bases it possesses worldwide (in addition
to the bases located in US territory) occupy a total area of 2.2
million hectares. They include 32,327 buildings and employ nearly
500,000 people, including 400,000 American military and civilian
personnel. In Germany only, there are 25 American bases, employing
75,600 military people. In Italy, the most important American bases
(Aviano, Camp Ederle in Vicenza, Ghedi, Camp Darby at Pisa, Napoli,
Verona, Sigonella in Sicily, La Maddalena in Sardinia) occupy an area
of more than one million square kms and employ 15,500 military
people and 4,500 civilians. Rightly or wrongly, many Italians think
that nuclear bombs are stored in some of them, like at Aviano and Ghedi.

The historian Chalmer Johnson (*The Last Days of the American
Republic*, 2007), who was a CIA consultant between 1967 and 1973, has
recently stressed that these figures do not include the 106 American
garrisons installed since May 2005 in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor the
ones built in Israel, in Qatar, in Central Asia, in Kyrgyzstan and in
Uzbekistan, nor the enormous base of Camp Bondsteel, built in 1999 in
Kosovo by a subsidiary of Halliburton company, nor of course the
multiple NSA installations (like the Echelon net) devoted to the
illegal espionage and ‘hearing’ of personal communications throughout
the world (including yours and mine). The American administration has
also recently announced its intent to open new bases in Africa in
the near future. These military installations depend on a chain of
command divided into 5 spatial units and 4 special units (Unified
Combattant Commands).

Most countries accept this foreign presence on their territory. There
are only few exceptions. The American bases in France were closed
by the French government under General de Gaulle, and their personnel
had to leave the country. After violent demonstrations, the American
base of Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972. More recently,
Ecuador has decided to close in 2009 an American base on its
territory. Today, there are American bases in 63 different countries,
but American military personnel are present in 156 countries.

The installation of military bases (or commercial counters) is a quite
typical tactic of a Sea Power. One could wonder if all these
American bases in the world are really useful (and useful to what
exactly). One could also wonder how the US would react if some
European power (or the European Union) would decide, for example, to
establish European military bases in Latin American countries. Even
with the agreement of these countries, I suppose that the US would
invoke the old Monroe Doctrine. Maybe other parts of the world should
have their own Monroe Doctrine too.

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John Eipper, Editor-in-Chief, Adrian College, MI 49221 USA