Two excerpts from: America's
Empire of Bases by Chalmers Johnson from
Military bases
"As distinct from other peoples, most Americans
do not recognize—or do not want to recognize—that the United
States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government
secrecy, our citizens are often ignorant of the fact that our garrisons
encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on
every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of
empire—an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to
be taught in any high school geography class."
At Least Seven Hundred Foreign Bases
"It's not easy to assess the
size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these
subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense
Department's annual "Base Structure Report"
for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military
real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas
bases in about 130 countries and has another 6,000 bases in
the United States and its territories.
"Pentagon bureaucrats calculate that it would
require at least $113.2 billion to replace just the
foreign bases—surely far too low a figure but still larger than
the gross domestic product of most countries—and an estimated
$591,519.8 million to replace all of them. The military high command
deploys to our overseas bases some 253,288 uniformed personnel,
plus an equal number of dependents and Department of Defense civilian
officials, and employs an additional 44,446 locally hired foreigners.
The Pentagon claims that these bases contain 44,870 barracks, hangars,
hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and that it leases 4,844
more."
