4-20-08, 9:49 am

New Brunswick, N.J. – The U.S. operates 90% of all foreign military bases on earth, said peace activist Cathy Goodman at an Apr. 15 event held at Rutgers University co-sponsored by the U.S. Peace Council and Rutgers Against the War. Goodman introduced a panel of three scholars and activists as part of a national speaking tour aimed at countering a virtual news blackout on U.S. global militarism.

To put this into perspective, more than half of then entire world’s official military spending is done by the U.S. From a pre-World War II military budget of $1 billion (1939) and a pre-Korean War military budget of $12 billion (1949) the present military budget counting cost over-runs will be in excess of $500 billion (also a conservative estimate).

From 1947 to 1991, U.S. leaders rationalized that growing military budgets were needed to fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union and its allies. When the Soviet Union was destroyed, some liberals began to talk of a “peace dividend.” The idea was that the military budget could be scaled back and the billions saved could be transferred to social services and infrastructure improvements.

The peace dividend never materialized in the Clinton years, and the open-ended “war against terrorism” proclaimed by the Bush administration after the September 11 attacks has now produced a military budget nearly twice what it was at its Cold War peak.

It was clear from the speaker's comments at the U.S. Peace Council forum, that although the Cold War may have ended, the “cold war” against the peoples of the third world and former allies of the Soviet Union is far from over.

One person who knows about the impact of the foreign military bases on his homeland is Oliver Bancoult of the Chagos Islands, who spoke at the event. In order to make way for the construction of the U.S. base at Diego Garcia off the souther tip of India, 2,000 residents of the Chagos Islands, including Bancoult, were forcibly deported by the British government to Mauritius 1,200 miles away in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Bancoult, an electrician by trade, has since then become the celebrated leader of the refugees of the Chagos Islands. He spoke about the plight of his people, their suffering, and their struggle for justice. In Mauritius, the Chagos Island refugees have for the most part lived in poverty, said Bancoult.

The Chagos Island refugees have fought in the British courts and have won decisions that their deportation was illegal. But, the British Privy Council, a relic of the colonial empire, has vetoed these decisions on the grounds that they constitute a threat to UK “national security.”

Attempts to bring the issue to the United Nations have so far failed, and, as Bancoult sadly noted, regional politicians who have supported a demilitarized Indian Ocean have done nothing to advance those policies when they have won office.

Today, the Diego Garcia base, a product of Cold War strategic planning, has become an integral part of the U.S. military operation against Iraq and the Middle East. Critics claim that it is also houses a U.S. military prison where foreign nationals who have opposed the 'war on terror' are being held without due process rights.

With the rise of India and China in the world economy, the militarization of the Indian Ocean is also a potential long-term threat to world peace.

Readers interested in the rights of the Chagos Refugees should visit . Also, look for a British television documentary titled “Stealing a Nation” by the distinguished British journalist John Pilger. Commentary on the history of the events is available at

The Czech Republic is a long way from both the Indian Ocean and the United States, but not from the reach of U.S. militarism. Jan Tamas, a forceful young Czech humanist and a leader of the No to Bases Initiative in the Czech Republic, spoke of the broad coalition of forces in the Czech Republic who are fighting against the campaign by the U.S. military, U.S. corporations, and Czech politicians to install a “Star Wars” radar station on their soil. Polls show that 70% of the Czech people oppose to the project, Tamas said.

The planned base is a continuation and escalation of the Star Wars project which Ronald Reagan launched a generation ago. The project has already cost billions and has yielded few successes. Over the years, scientists have criticized it as a near impossibility, and social scientists have long contended that its likely role would be as a “first strike” weapon rather than a defensive one. Its existence produces not peace and disarmament but a new arms and an increased possibility of war.

Tamas spoke of the attacks which his coalition has faced from the Czech center-right government and media, ranging from accusations that they were “communists” and paid agents of Moscow (even though Moscow is anti-Communist), and, just to keep up with the times, supporters of terrorists.

Supporters of the base argue that the purpose of the base is to protect Europe from potential missile attacks by “rogue states,” particularly Iran, even though the Czech people understand that Iran in no way has the nuclear weapons or delivery systems that would make this remotely possible in the foreseeable future.

Russia is the real target, and the Russians know it. The Czechs and Poles, who are to “host” the interceptor missiles, are being used as frontline states against Russia in what can only be seen as a dangerous step on the road to new arms races and potential nuclear wars. For those interested in the Czech initiative, including signing a petition against the bases, visit .

Africa is the latest target for new military bases. Daniel Volman, director of the Africa Research Project and a scholar specializing in U.S.-Africa military relations, spoke on the U.S. military’s dangerous plans to establish a separate Africa Command (AFRICOM). On this, the Bush administration has met with little success. So far only Liberia was agreed to permit the U.S. to establish headquarters for such a command.

Few Americans know about AFRICOM or know about the growing importance, as Volman contended, of African oil to U.S. goals. Today, Nigeria sells more oil to the U.S. than Saudi Arabia. The U.S. is seeking to “diversify” its oil procurement and to use its military command to do in Africa what it is currently failing to do in Iraq.

New efforts to establish bases in Africa are much like the colonial powers' 19th century plans for dividing up Africa, and creating enormous new suffering and oppression for its peoples. While the U.S. military advertises itself as bringing about development and reform to the continent, it has no real plans to do anything in Africa besides construct its bases and use them for command and control.

Volman argued that some congressional Democrats have given up on any possibility of serious developmental aid to Africa and are starting to believe military promises that militarism would bring development. It is important that AFRICOM be abandoned since it, like Star Wars in the Czech Republic and the crime committed by Britain when it deported 2,000 Chagos Island people, is about using diverse peoples as pawn of militarization, exploitation of oil and other resources, and eventual war.

The No Bases East Coast Tour ended April 18 in Washington. But the issues will be with us for a long time, as will be the groups fighting for peace and human rights who are represented in the tour.

--Norman Markowitz teaches history at Rutgers University.