No Foreign Bases: Challenging the Footprint of US Empire
The United States cannot be a moral or ethical country until it faces up to the realities of US empire
Military bases
The Polluter Is Not Paying
Wars may end, bases may close, but our toxic military footprint remains as a poisonous legacy for future generations.
My nephew, an Army veteran who spent most of his 20 plus years military service as an officer in South Korea, is now a civilian military contractor living on a base in Afghanistan. Our only conversation about US military pollution in South Korea was something of a non-starter. These two Asian countries, so disparate in development, economy and stability, have something in common – severely polluted US military bases, for which our country takes little to no financial responsibility. The polluter pays (aka “you break it, you fix it”) does not apply to the United States military abroad. Nor do civilian workers and most US soldiers stationed at these bases have a chance of winning medical compensation for their military pollution-related illness.
US Foreign Military Bases Aren’t For “Defense”
By Thomas L. Knapp for Counter Punch - “U.S. foreign military bases are the principal instruments of imperial global domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and occupation.” That’s the unifying claim of the Coalition Against US Foreign Military Bases (noforeignbases.org), and it’s true as far as it goes. But as a signer of the Coalition’s endorsement form, I think it’s worth taking the argument a bit further. The maintenance of nearly 1,000 US military bases on foreign soil isn’t just a nightmare for peaceniks. It’s also also an objective threat to US national security. A reasonable definition of “national defense,” it seems to me, is the maintenance of sufficient weaponry and trained military personnel to protect a country from, and effectively retaliate against, foreign attacks. The existence of US bases abroad runs counter to the defensive element of that mission and only very poorly supports the retaliatory part. Defensively, scattering US military might piecemeal around the world — especially in countries where the populace resents that military presence — multiplies the number of vulnerable American targets. Each base must have its own separate security apparatus for immediate defense, and must maintain (or at least hope for) an ability to reinforce and resupply from elsewhere in the event of sustained attack.
New Campaign: Close All US Military Bases On Foreign Soil
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. A new campaign to close all US military bases abroad has been announced by the Coalition Against Foreign Military Bases. This campaign strikes at the foundation of the US empire confronting its militarism, corporatism and imperialism. We urge you to endorse this campaign.
The coalition has issued a unity statement which describes its intent: “the goal of raising public awareness and organizing non-violent mass resistance against U.S. foreign military bases” describing US foreign military bases as “the principal instruments of imperial global domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and occupation, and that the closure of U.S. foreign military bases is one of the first necessary steps toward a just, peaceful and sustainable world.” U.S. foreign military bases are NOT in defense of U.S. national, or global security. They are the military expression of U.S. intrusion in the lives of sovereign countries on behalf of the dominant financial, political, and military interests of the ruling elite.
Governor, Mayors Boycott US Base Ceremony In Okinawa
By Staff of Ryukyu Shimpo - Kadena Air Base’s 18th Wing held a change of command ceremony on the morning of July 10, with Col. Case Cunningham relieving Brig. Gen. Barry R. Cornish. Kadena Town Mayor Hiroshi Toyama, Okinawa City Mayor Sachio Kuwae, Chatan Town Mayor Masaharu Noguni and Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, who were invited to the ceremony, refused to attend, expressing their protest against U.S. military operations, including the use of the former navy aircraft parking apron and the continuation of parachute drop drills despite local opposition. Col. Case Cunningham worked as a commander at the Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. He has served as commander of air-wing level from squadron level.
Okinawan Peacemaker Needs Help From Peace Community
By Lawrence Repeta for the Japan Times. There, a 64-year-old antiwar activist has been held in detention on trivial charges for more than 70 days. Over the past two years of peaceful protests against U.S. military base expansion in northern Okinawa, Hiroji Yamashiro emerged as the face of Okinawan resistance, the man with a megaphone in hand who urged crowds of protesters to speak out. Arrested on Oct. 17 and denied visits by anyone other than his attorneys since then, he has been silenced.
U.S. Military Building $100 Million Drone Base In Africa
By Nick Turse for The Intercept - FROM HIGH ABOVE, Agadez almost blends into the cocoa-colored wasteland that surrounds it. Only when you descend farther can you make out a city that curves around an airfield before fading into the desert. Once a nexus for camel caravans hauling tea and salt across the Sahara, Agadez is now a West African paradise for people smugglers and a way station for refugees and migrants intent on reaching Europe’s shores by any means necessary.
Victory: Okinawa Navy Base Construction Stopped
By Reiji Yoshida for Japan Times. In a surprise about-face, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday agreed to an out-of-court settlement for three lawsuits filed over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
The settlement requires Tokyo to suspend land reclamation off the Henoko coast in Okinawa Prefecture, and Abe complied by ordering a halt. Later in the day, the Okinawa Prefectural Government accepted Abe’s offer. It had indicated earlier that it would be willing to do so.
Acceptance of the settlement is a big compromise for Abe, who had insisted that Tokyo would continue construction work regardless of the battle in the courts.
During a news conference later Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga admitted that the relocation of Futenma will be delayed beyond the target year of 2020, even if everything goes well from now on. Okinawa saw fierce ground battles during World War II, and anti-military sentiment remains strong in the region.