Underground Base Researcher Richard Sauder Arrested

Dr. Richard Sauder, author of several books on secret underground bases, was arrested for peacefully protesting at a Minuteman III nuclear missile launch site near Parshall, Minot Air Force Base.

Attorney, author and law professor Francis A. Boyle said: “People like Richard and the Ploughshares and others are some of the most principled people I’ve ever been fortunate enough to meet and I believe they have a right to peaceful, non-violent, prayerful demonstration against weapons of massive destruction and genocide. The future of humanity is at stake here and Richard and those like Richard out there are trying to do something".'

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British Government Under Fire for US Use of Diego Garcia

The unfettered use of the British island of Diego Garcia by the American military is “disturbing” and ministers should be “less deferential” towards the US, says a cross- party group of MPs.

In a report published today, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee criticises the British government for ceding control of the island in the Indian Ocean to the US, and demands a comprehensive review of the arrangement.

The report comes as the US is planning to make another major military deployment at Diego Garcia. This summer, the USS Emory S. Land, which left a base in Italy in 2007 under a cloud, will arrive the island to start servicing the US submarine fleet.'

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Unsettling Revelations Regarding U.S. Lease of Colombian Military Bases

On Friday, October 30, U.S. and Colombian officials signed the controversial Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA), granting the U.S. armed forces access to seven Colombian military bases for the next ten years. The deal has been the subject of anxious speculation and heated debate since talks were first confirmed over the summer, as many policymakers throughout the hemisphere are now grappling with the reality of a heightened U.S. military presence in South America.

Though details were not released to the public prior to the signing of the agreement, official statements from both governments have continuously affirmed that the leased facilities would be exclusively used to support counternarcotic and counterinsurgency initiatives within Colombia. However, a recently publicized U.S. Air Force document presents a far more ominous explanation for massive congressional funding for the forthcoming military construction at the Colombian bases. It emphasizes the “opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America” against threats not only from drug trafficking and guerrilla movements, but also from “anti-U.S. governments” in the region.'

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Blackout: Military Personnel Banned From H1N1 Vaccine Websites

If you want to draw attention to a problem, try hiding it. That’s the strategy of several military bases when it comes to the H1N1 vaccine.

Shortly after the Pentagon announced that all Armed Services personnel would soon be facing a mandatory H1N1 vaccination program, I started receiving email from soldiers, airmen, marines and sailors because of a previous story I had written on the anthrax vaccine. Mandatory vaccine programs are a sensitive subject in the military, so it’s not a huge surprise that swift and visceral reactions to the program gained speed.

With a vaccine that was so new and little known about it, like many Americans, troops were heading to the web to find answers to their very legitimate questions — not only for themselves, but for their families who have the option of receiving the vaccine on base. What they found instead is that several websites and blogs with key information asking critical questions had been blocked from their viewing.'

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Colombia Says 'No' to US Bases

Amid reports of a deal reached for the establishment of US military bases in Colombia, the country's foreign minister says there is no need for more American personnel.

In an effort to reassure other South American countries, Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez told the BBC that Colombia seeks only "information, technology, intelligence" in the form of military cooperation with the US.

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In Historic Move, Ecuador Shuts US Military Base

Ecuador has closed down a US military post and obliged the last group of US forces to leave the South American state, ending a decade of 'subordination'.

Upon a ceremony on the departure of American soldiers from Ecuador's Pacific Manta air base on Friday, the country's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi hailed the US troops' exit from the Hispanic nation and dubbed the stay as 'unconstitutional.'

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Castro: US Aims to Overthrow Chavez's Government

Fidel Castro has accused the US of seeking to overthrow Venezuela's government and to establish power through its future military bases in Colombia.

The former Cuban leader's attack on the White House came on the eve of a summit of South American presidents that could be overshadowed by a growing row over a deal between Washington and Bogota to give the American military access to seven Colombian bases.

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President Carter: Many Children Were Tortured Under Bush

President Jimmy Carter wrote that the Red Cross, Amnesty International and the Pentagon "have gathered substantial testimony of torture of children, confirmed by soldiers who witnessed or participated in the abuse." In "Our Endangered Values" Carter said that the Red Cross found after visiting six U.S. prisons "107 detainees under eighteen, some as young as eight years old." And reporter Hersh, (who broke the Abu Ghraib torture scandal,) reported 800-900 Pakistani boys aged 13 to 15 in custody.

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AFRICOM’s $6 Billion Fiasco in Djibouti

The USA African Command (AFRICOM) is building their new African megabase in the tiny Horn of African country of Djibouti. The first phase is costing $2 billion, according to reports, and eventually another $4 billion will be spent. This latest expansion of USA imperial might, this time on African soil, is turning into a fiasco for the Pentagon and US State Department.

To understand why one must review the recent history in the region. Djibouti is and has been little more than a province of Ethiopia. It was a French colony and continues to host a significant French military base. Since 9-11, the USA military has been feverishly trying to find a site for a major military presence in a strategic place in Africa. Unfortunately for the Pentagon, no African country with a suitable site will allow the USA to set up shop there.

So enter Djibouti. With a population of about 500,000, and one of the poorest countries on the planet, Djibouti sits at the entrance to the Red Sea, through which passes much of the world’s shipping, including a sizable portion of the oil used in Europe and Asia. The USA made the Djiboutian president an offer he couldn’t refuse and now the concrete is being poured and the new runways and docks are growing out of the sand and desert of the North African coastline of the Indian Ocean.

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A Giant US Military Base Emerges in Afghanistan

In the forbidding Afghan desert, US engineers are carving out a sprawling military camp as part of a dramatic American troop build-up designed to confront Taliban insurgents.

The desolate plain in southern Helmand province that Afghans call the "desert of death" has turned into a hive of frenetic activity, underscoring President Barack Obama's decision to expand the US military commitment to the war.

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Empire of Bases

The old way of doing colonialism, practiced by the Europeans, was to take over entire countries and administer them. But this was clumsy. The United States has pioneered a leaner approach to global empire. As historian Chalmers Johnson says, "America's version of the colony is the military base." The United States, says Johnson, has an "empire of bases."

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Georgia Ready to Host a US Base

Georgia is ready to consider hosting a US military base if it gets such a proposal from the American Administration, Georgia’s Foreign Minister said.
Grigol Vashadze, who is now paying a four-day visit to Japan, made the announcement in an interview to the Japanese Nikkei newspaper, Itar-Tass news agency reports.
“Currently we do not have consultations on this issue with the US, but we are ready to consider it seriously,” Vashadze said.

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Too Many Overseas Bases

In the midst of an economic crisis that’s getting scarier by the day, it’s time to ask whether the nation can really afford some 1,000 military bases overseas. For those unfamiliar with the issue, you read that number correctly. One thousand. One thousand U.S. military bases outside the 50 states and Washington, DC, representing the largest collection of bases in world history.

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