The Bases of Empire

This book examines US military bases across the globe including those in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. It documents the massive political, economic and environmental impacts that these outposts have and studies the movements and campaigns against them. US Military bases form a huge global system but are poorly understood by those not directly involved in their operation. The Pentagon is currently relocating many bases to fit with the strategies of pre-emption and resource control and this has intensified existing conflicts between the military and local people.The authors of this volume show how these seemingly local disputes are crucial to the success and failure of the American imperial project, and attempt to bring together the geographically scattered opposition movements to form a coherent campaign against the harmful effects of bases. A key title for students of anthropology and politics, this collection will also open the eyes of US citizens to the damage the American empire causes in allied countries as well as in its war zones.
Reviews
The Cost of Empire Chalmers Johnson, Truthdig.com, 20 May 2009

Introduction: Bases, Empire, and Global Response (PDF)
Catherine Lutz

1. U.S. Foreign Military Bases and Military Colonialism:
   Personal and Analytical Perspectives 47
   joseph Gerson
2. U.S. Military Bases in Latin America and the
   Caribbean 71
   john Lindsay-Poland
3. U.S. Nuclear Weapons Bases in Europe 96
   David Heller and Hans Lammerant
4. Iraq as a Pentagon Construction Site 131
   Tom Engelhardt
5. People's Movement Responses to Evolving U.S.
   Military Activities in the Philippines 145
   Roland G. Simbulan
6. "Give Us Back Diego Garcia": Unity and Division among Activists in the Indian Ocean 181
   David Vine and Laura jeffery
7. Environmental Struggle after the Cold War:
   New Forms of Resistance to the U.S. Military in Vieques, Puerto Rico
   Katherine T. McCaffrey
8. Okinawa: Women's Struggle for Demilitarization Kozue Akibayashi and Suzuyo Takazato
9. Opposition to the U.S. Military Presence in Turkey in the Context of the Iraq War
   Ay§e CUI Altmay and Amy Holmes
10. Resisting Militarization in Hawai'i Kyle Kajihiro

Afterword: Down Here Julian Aguon