Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World

by David Vine

Overview

From Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras, a far-reaching examination of the perils of American military bases overseas

American military bases encircle the globe. More than two decades after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. still stations its troops at nearly a thousand locations in foreign lands. These bases are usually taken for granted or overlooked entirely, a little-noticed part of the Pentagon's vast operations. But in an eye-opening account, Base Nation shows that the worldwide network of bases brings with it a panoply of ills—and actually makes the nation less safe in the long run.

As David Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United States. They also undermine American democratic ideals, pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy the environment, and damage local economies. And their financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill approaches $100 billion per year.

For many decades, the need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan coalition has finally started to question this conventional wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation is an essential contribution to that debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781627791694
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Series:	American Empire Project Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	434,401
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

David Vine is the author of Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia and an associate professor of anthropology at American University in Washington, D.C. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Mother Jones, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

PART I: FOUNDATIONS
1. The Birth of Base Nation 17
2. From Little Americas to Lily Pads 45

PART II: FOOTPRINT
3. The Displaced 63
4. The Colonial Present 83
5. Befriending Dictators 97
6. In Bed with the Mob 115
7. Toxic Environments 135

PART III: LABOR
8. Everyone Serves 151
9. Sex for Sale 163
10. Militarized Masculinity 181

PART IV: MONEY
11. The Bill 195
12. "We're Profiteers" 215
13. The MilCon Con 233

PART V: CHOICES
14. "Masters of Extortion" 255
15. "It's Enough" 277
16. The Lily Pad Strategy 299
17. True Security 321

Author's Note 339
Notes 341
Online Resources 390
Acknowledgments 396
Index 405

Editorial Reviews

06/01/2015
Vine (Island of Shame), an anthropologist and scholar of American military policy, focuses on the cultural and political role of the global U.S. base structure. The U.S. military maintains, by Vine's count, approximately 800 bases "in more than 70 countries," discussion of which is generally confined to the contexts of foreign policy and national security. Vine takes an alternate tack, investigating the bases' financial and human costs to the U.S. and host countries. Military bases, he argues, "perpetuate a 21st-century form of colonialism, tarnishing our country's ability to be a model for democracy." Too often they are vestigial, mostly relics of the Cold War created from a "newly expansive concept of ‘national security'" and surviving more from inertia than intention. Their deterrent value is often marginal, and their impact often catastrophic. For security reasons, foreign bases are self-contained, culturally isolated "Little Americas." They displace local populations, enable "massive human rights abuses" by "murderous antidemocratic regimes," inflict "profound environmental damage," and nurture an "exploitative sex industry" that reinforces a culture of "militarized masculinity." Moreover, what has proved to be a huge cost to taxpayers has enriched a small community of war profiteers. Vine recommends comprehensive shutdowns, and his presentation is eloquent and persuasive. Maps & illus. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

A WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER

“A useful call to examine a question that gets far less attention than it merits… An entreaty for an explanation, a discussion in plain language, about what the U.S. military is doing in so many places in the world and why.”
—The Washington Post

"U.S. national security policy rests on the assertion that 'forward presence' contributes directly to global peace and security. In this powerful book, David Vine examines, dismantles, and disproves that claim. He demonstrates that America's sprawling network of overseas bases imposes costs—not only financial but also political, environmental, and moral—that far exceed what the Pentagon is prepared to acknowledge. Base Nation offers a devastating critique, and no doubt Washington will try to ignore it. Citizens should refuse to let that happen.”
—Andrew J. Bacevich, author of Limits of Power and Breach of Trust

“Who knew that we have more than eight hundred bases around the world? And what do our troops do there when they're not busy intruding into other people's conflicts? Such questions lie at the heart of David Vine's remarkable, impeccably written, and clearheaded analysis of the costly madness that is America's current colonial-military complex. His book is a marvel, and all in power should read it.”
—Simon Winchester, author of Atlantic and The Men Who United the States

“Just looking at the maps in David Vine's thoroughly documented Base Nation will give you the chills—and seduce you into reading the book. He's performed a kind of modern day treasure hunt, finding and displaying our military forces all over the globe, and then thinking deeply about whether their far-flung presence will achieve or undermine the goal of fostering a peaceful and prosperous world.”
—Dana Priest, coauthor of Top Secret America

“While I may not share all of David Vine's conclusions, Base Nation amply demonstrates what a growing number of people across the political spectrum are concluding: the foundation of our military belongs right here on American soil. In the U.S. Senate, I pushed for greater investment in our bases here at home where our forces have greater unrestricted training opportunities and can rapidly deploy worldwide better prepared for combat. Pentagon officials and members of Congress should pay close attention to Vine's arguments in favor of reducing our foreign presence in the interest of strengthening the future security posture of U.S. military forces and the fiscal health of our nation.”
—Kay Bailey Hutchison, former U.S. senator (R-TX) and chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Military Construction

From the Publisher

06/15/2015
The United States started to acquire basing rights around the world during the 19th century and greatly expanded the practice during World War I. There are now over 100 international locations where troops are stationed; some facilities are very large, others small and supposedly temporary. The sites are designed to allow the United States to project military power and contribute to stability and other foreign policy aims, as did the massive American bases in Germany during the Cold War. Prolific author Vine (anthropology, American Univ.; Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia) asserts that the bill for these outposts now approaches $100 billion per year, and in many cases it is far from clear that they benefit either the host country or this one. At Diego Garcia, for example, the United States and Britain negotiated a deal that expelled the native population, much to their disadvantage, from the islands. Disputes about the bases have also arisen in Japan, Guam, Pakistan, and Yemen. Vine forcefully challenges the utility, cost, morality, and success of the basing concept while also criticizing the military, industrial, and national security confluence for poor policy, rampant waste, and deceptive language and practice. VERDICT A well-documented nonpartisan study that is beneficial for military and foreign affairs collections.—Edwin Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS

Library Journal

2015-05-06
America's seldom thought of, and largely misunderstood, military outposts around the globe are brought into sharp relief. The idea that it costs more than $100 billion each year to maintain the United States' roughly 800 military installations spread throughout the world is easy enough to grasp, and there are many who will say that the hefty price tag is well worth the cost. However, Vine (Anthropology/American Univ.; Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia, 2009) effectively argues that the true costs of all those bases—whether euphemistically called FOBs, lily pads, or a host of other monikers—encompass a lot more than what is in Uncle Sam's wallet. Ostensibly meant to protect American security at the close of World War II, Vine demonstrates how both the rationale behind the rise of U.S. military bases abroad and their implementation run counter to many closely held American ideals. Readers on the left will be particularly chagrined to learn that liberal lion Franklin Roosevelt orchestrated a plan that regurgitated and repackaged old-time colonialism in the name of national security. The author also illuminates the series of forced evacuations, expulsions, and evictions that devastated whole societies all across the Pacific, Latin America, and beyond, and he shows how little the government had learned after the Trail of Tears 100 years prior. Citizens could still wave the flag and extoll democratic principals here at home, but Vine further demonstrates how they did so oblivious to the autocrats that continued to fill the upper tiers of the American military. The powers that be may have successfully swept many previous sins under the carpet in the wake of World War II, but according to Vine, continuing to maintain U.S. military bases around the world doesn't make any sense in a post-9/11 world. A frank, significant look at how the proliferation of foreign military bases has "helped lock us inside a permanently militarized society that in many ways has made all of us less safe and less secure."

Kirkus Reviews