FM: John Whitbeck
With U.S. military bases abroad being prominently in the
news these days, I am transmitting herewith a graphic
which appears in my distinguished recipient David Vine's
latest book, The United States of War: A Global
History of America's Endless Conflicts (2020).
This graphic offers a country-by-country breakdown
of the 738+ known U.S. military base sites outside the
United States as of 2020, when they were then backed up
by 4149 military base sites located within the United
States.
For the GCC countries currently claiming neutrality in
response to Iranian retaliation, the numbers are 12 base
sites for Bahrain, 11 for Saudi Arabia, 10 for Kuwait, 6
for Oman and 3 each for Qatar and the United Arab
Emirates.
It should by now be clear that permitting one's country
to be militarily occupied by the United States, whether
in the Persian Gulf, in Europe or elsewhere, makes one's
country less, not more, secure by making it
complicit and a potential target for retaliation in any
of the seemingly endless succession of American wars of
choice against other countries which pose no conceivable
threat to a host country.
Germany and Japan have been militarily occupied by the
United States continuously since their unconditional
surrenders in 1945, with each of them now serving as
"host" to 119 U.S. military base sites. Notwithstanding
the acquiescence of German and Japanese governments,
these perpetual occupations are not being perpetuated
for the benefit of the people of Germany or Japan.
If any German or Japanese government dared to prioritize
its own national interests and assert its sovereignty
and independence by asking the United States to vacate
its military bases on their country's territory, does
anyone believe that the United States would do so?
NOTE: I take this opportunity to recommend again
all three of David Vine's essential-reading books,
including his two prior ones, Island of Shame: The
Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on
Diego Garcia (2009) and Base Nation: How U.S.
Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (2015).
