The U.S. has around 800 military bases outside of the US borders. They're home to hundreds of thousands of troops and family
members, and, in many cases, they're a cause of controversy.
David
Vine, an associate professor of anthropology at American University,
argues that we've become too dependent on such overseas bases — and that
many of them cause serious opposition abroad. He lays out his thinking
in his new book,
Base Nation: How the U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.
In the book he notes : "Most
of the bases were established during or shortly after World War II. And
ever since, Vine says, there have been pockets of local opposition.
"I
think there were tensions almost immediately in Germany and Japan, in
particular, where these bases were helping U.S. troops and allied troops
to occupy the enemy territory," Vine tells
Weekend All Things Considered guest host Tess Vigeland.
"Pretty
quickly, as the Cold War developed, we see France evict the United
States in the mid-1960s. We see countries like Trinidad and Tobago evict
the United States, also in the 1960s, and we see growing protest
movements in places like Okinawa that continue to the present."
He argues that the U.S. ought to take those protests serious.
Largely people, of course, don't like their land occupied by foreign
troops. And I think it's worth thinking - for American audiences to
think about how it would feel to have foreign troops living next-door,
occupying your land with tanks. But there have also been a number of
harms that these bases have inflicted on local communities. There have
been accidents, crimes committed by U.S. personnel, environmental damage
- a whole range of damage that people are quite upset about.
The book is not initially calling for the closure of every U.S. base
overseas. It's calling for, first of all, a conversation about this
massive network of bases and whether they're increasing national
security or the security of the world. It's important also to point out
that a major way in which the United States engages with the rest of the
world is through these military bases that are occupying other people's
lands. David Vine suggests that a fundamental transition needs to take place now to
emphasize increasingly diplomatic engagement rather than military
engagement.
Note EU-Digest: a recent report from the BBC notes that the US currently has more than 60,000 troops stationed in Europe, mostly in Germany, Italy and the UK. The US earlier in the year has also announced it will close 15 obsolete military bases across Europe which date back to the cold was era at a savings of about $500m a year. The number of total US servicemen will remain the same, however, according to the US Pentagon, as the US ramps up rotations within Europe for military training programs.
Read more: Do America's Military Bases Abroad Help Or Hinder Global Security? | WGBH News
