Once upon a time, you could trace the spread of imperialism by counting up colonies. America's version of the colony is the military base.
In order to maintain its imperial interests internationally, U.S. military bases and personnel are deployed in more than 150 countries around the world. This of course puts a huge pressure on the U.S. budget and deficit.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, "The USA's military spending accounted for 45 percent of the world total in 2007." allgov.com
In an interesting experiment, the National Priorities Project, a nonpartisan research group, has created an online calculator that allows you to see how much money is being sent to the war in Iraq from taxes from your locality (city, county, state, nation), as well as what could have been provided for the same amount of money. allgov.com
According to the calculator, U.S. taxpayers have paid or will pay "$656.1 billion for total Iraq war spending approved to date." For the same amount of money, we could have provided health care for all the children in the U.S. for four years; or renewable electricity for all homes in the U.S. for six years; or four years' salary for every elementary school teacher in the country. allgov.com
The total of America's military bases in other people's countries in 2005, according to official sources, was 737. Chalmers Johnson's, "Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic" (Metropolitan Books)
Below is a text produced by globalresearch.ca outlining the American justification for its military presence around the world. globalresearch
The Global Deployment of US Military Personnel
The Worldwide control of humanity's economic, social and political activities is under the helm of U.S. corporate and military power. Underlying this process are various schemes of direct and indirect military intervention. These U.S. sponsored strategies ultimately consist in a process of global subordination. globalresearch
Where is the Threat?
The 2000 Global Report published in 1980 had outlined "the State of the World" by focusing on the so-called "level of threats" which might negatively influence or undermine U.S. interests. globalresearch
Twenty years later, U.S. strategists, in an attempt to justify their military interventions in different parts of the World, have conceptualized the greatest fraud in U.S. history, namely "the Global War on Terrorism" (GWOT). The latter, using a fabricated pretext constitutes a global war against all those who oppose U.S. hegemony. A modern form of slavery, instrumented through militarization and the "free market" has unfolded. globalresearch
Major elements of the conquest and world domination strategy by the U.S. refer to:
1) The control of the world economy and its financial markets. globalresearch
2) The taking over of all natural resources (primary resources and nonrenewable sources of energy). The latter constitute the cornerstone of U.S. power through the activities of its multinational corporations. globalresearch
Geopolitical Outreach: Network of Military Bases
The U.S. has established its control over most governments which are members of the United Nations. The conquest, occupation and/or otherwise supervision of these various regions of the world is supported by an integrated network of military bases and installations which covers the entire planet (Continents, Oceans and Outer Space). All this pertains to the workings of an extensive Empire, the exact dimensions of which are not always easy to ascertain. globalresearch
I. The Military Bases
Military bases are conceived for training purposes, preparation and stockage of military equipment, used by national armies throughout the World. They are not very well known in view of the fact that they are not open to the public at large. globalresearch
II. More than 1000 U.S. Bases and/or Military Installations
The main sources of information on these military installations (e.g. C. Johnson, the NATO Watch Committee, and the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases) reveal that the U.S. operates and/or controls between 700 and 800 military bases Worldwide. globalresearch
In this regard, Hugh d'Andrade and Bob Wing's "U.S. Military Troops and Bases around the World, The Cost of 'Permanent War'", confirms the presence of U.S. military personnel in 156 countries. globalresearch
The U.S. Military has bases in 63 countries. Brand new military bases have been built since September 11, 2001 in seven countries. globalresearch
In total, there are 255,065 U.S. military personnel deployed Worldwide [in 2007]. globalresearch
These facilities include a total of 845,441 different buildings and equipments. The underlying land surface is of the order of 30 million acres. According to Gelman, who examined 2005 official Pentagon data, the U.S. is thought to own a total of 737 bases in foreign lands. Adding to the bases inside U.S. territory, the total land area occupied by U.S. military bases domestically within the U.S. and internationally is of the order of 2,202,735 hectares, which makes the Pentagon one of the largest landowners worldwide. globalresearch
The Surface of the Earth is Structured as a Wide Battlefield
These military bases and installations of various kinds are distributed according to a Command structure divided up into five spatial units and four unified Combatant Commands. Each unit is under the Command of a General. globalresearch
The Earth surface is being conceived as a wide battlefield which can be patrolled or steadfastly supervised from the Bases. globalresearch
Territories under a Command are: the Northern Command (NORTHCOM) (Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado), the Pacific Command (Honolulu, Hawaii), the Southern Command (Miami, Florida - Map 5), The Central Command (CENTCOM) (MacDill Air Force Base, Florida), the European Command (Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany), the Joint Forces Command (Norfolk, Virginia), the Special Operations Command (MacDill Air Force Base, Florida), the Transportation Command (Scott Air Force Base, Illinois) and the Strategic Command (STRATCOM) (Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska). globalresearch
NATO Military Bases
The Atlantic Alliance (NATO) has its own Network of military bases, thirty in total. The latter are primarily located in Western Europe:
-Whiteman, U.S.A., Fairford
-Lakenheath and Mildenhall in United Kingdom
-Eindhoven in Netherlands
-Brüggen, Geilenkirchen, Landsberg, Ramstein, Spangdahlem, Rhein-Main in Germany
-Istres and Avord in France
-Moron de la Frontera and Rota in Spain
-Brescia, Vicenza, Piacenza, Aviano, Istrana, Trapani, Ancora, Pratica di Mare, Amendola, Sigonella, Gioia dell Colle, Grazzanise and Brindisi in Italy
-Tirana in Albania
-Incirlik in Turkey
-Eskan Village in Saudi Arabia
-Ali al Salem in Kuwait
The Global Deployment of U.S. Military Personnel
There are 6000 military bases and/ or military warehouses located in the U.S. globalresearch
Total Military Personnel is of the order of 1.4 million of which 1,168,195 are in the U.S and U.S. overseas territories. globalresearch
Taking figures from the same source, there are 325,000 U.S. military personnel in foreign countries:
-800 in Africa
-97,000 in Asia (excluding the Middle East and Central Asia)
-40,258 in South Korea
-40,045 in Japan
-491 at the Diego Garcia Base in the Indian Ocean
-100 in the Philippines, 196 in Singapore
-113 in Thailand
-200 in Australia
-16,601 Afloat
In Europe, there are 116,000 U.S. military personnel including 75,603 who are stationed in Germany. globalresearch
In Central Asia about 1,000 are stationed at the Ganci (Manas) Air Base in Kyrgyzstan and 38 are located at Kritsanisi, in Georgia, with a mission to train Georgian soldiers. globalresearch
In the Middle East (excluding the Iraq war theater) there are 6,000 U.S. military personnel, 3,432 of whom are in Qatar and 1,496 in Bahrain. globalresearch
In the Western Hemisphere, excluding the U.S. and U.S. territories, there are 700 military personnel in Guantanamo, 413 in Honduras and 147 in Canada. globalresearch
The Operational Cost of the Worldwide Military Network
U.S. defense spending (excluding the costs of the Iraq war) have increased from 404 in 2001 to 626 billion dollars in 2007 according to data from the Washington based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. U.S. defense spending is expected to reach 640 billion dollars in 2008. globalresearch
A 396 billion dollars military budget proposed in 2003 has in fact reached 417.4 billion dollars, a 73% increase compared to 2000 (289 billion dollars). This outlay for 2003 was more than half of the total of the U.S. discretionary budget. globalresearch
Since 2003, these military expenditures have to be added to those of the Iraq war and occupation. The latter reached in March 2007, according to the National Priorities Project, a cumulative total of 413 billion dollars. globalresearch
Estimates of the Defense Department budget needs, made public in 2006 in the DoD Green Book for FY 2007 are of the order of 440 billion dollars. globalresearch
Military and other staff required numbered 1,332,300. But those figures do not include the money required for the "Global World on Terrorism" (GWOT). In other words, these figures largely pertain to the regular Defense budget. globalresearch
A Goldstein of the Washington Post, within the framework of an article on the aspects of the National 2007 budget titled "2007 Budget Favors Defense", wrote about this topic:
"Overall, the budget for the 2007 fiscal year would further reshape the government in the way the administration has been striving to during the past half-decade: building up military capacity and defenses against terrorist threats on U.S. soil, while restraining expenditures for many domestic areas, from education programs to train service". globalresearch
Washington keeps a close eye on countries opposed to U.S. corporate control over their resources. Washington also targets countries where there are popular resistance movements directed against U.S. interests, particularly in South America. In this context, President Bush made a quick tour to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico "to promote democracy and trade" but also with a view to ultimately curbing and restraining popular dissent to the U.S. interests in the region. globalresearch
The same broad approach is being applied in Central Asia. According to Iraklis Tsavdaridis, Secretary of the World Peace Council (WPC):
"The establishment of U.S. military bases should not of course be seen simply in terms of direct military ends. They are always used to promote the economic and political objectives of U.S. capitalism. For example, U.S. corporations and the U.S. government have been eager for some time to build a secure corridor for U.S.-controlled oil and natural gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea in Central Asia through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. This region -has more than 6 percent of the world's proven oil reserves and almost 40 percent of its gas reserves. The war in Afghanistan and the creation of U.S. military Bases in Central Asia are viewed as a key opportunity to make such pipelines a reality." globalresearch
Military Bases Used for the Control of Strategic Renewable Resources
U.S. Military Bases in foreign countries are mainly located in Western Europe: 26 of them are in Germany, 8, in Great Britain, and 8 in Italy. There are nine military installations in Japan. globalresearch
In the last few years, in the context of the GWOT, the U.S. has built 14 new bases in and around the Persian Gulf. globalresearch
It is also involved in construction and/or reinforcement of 20 bases (106 structured units as a whole) in Iraq, with costs of the order being 1.1 billion dollars in that country alone (Varea, 2007) and the use of about ten bases in Central Asia. globalresearch
The U.S. has also undertaken continued negotiations with several countries to install, buy, enlarge or rent an additional number of military bases. The latter pertain inter alia to installations in Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Ghana, Brazil and Australia, Poland, Czech Republic, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan, Italy and France. globalresearch
Washington has signed an agreement to build a military base in Djibouti. All these initiatives are a part of an overall plan to install a series of military bases geographically located in a West-East corridor extending from Colombia in South America, to North Africa, the Near East, Central Asia and as far as the Philippines. The U.S. bases in South America are related to the control and accessing the extensive natural biological, mineral and water resources of the Amazon Basin. Globalresearch
