STANDING ARMY ENGLISH

TRANSCRIPT
VOICE OVER
Beginning in the 1980s, a belief has slowly taken over
the world: that neo-liberal globalization, with its built-in
self-regulating mechanisms, would finally do away with
old institutions like the state and the military, and
would usher the planet into an era of relative peace and
prosperity.

9/11, and the current economic crisis, have shown that

belief to be largely a myth.
But many signs where already there: markets have
always relied on state power and military might.

Americas transformation from republic to economic

superpower, following World War II, was accompanied
by the creation of a global network of military bases
unlike any other in history.
According to the Pentagons Base Structure Report,
today these amount to 716, in 38 countries.
More than 250.000 soldiers are stationed on these
bases.

In addition to this, the US has a military presence in

110 countries around the world.
A year after his election Barack Obama approved the
new administrations first military budget.
This amounts to 680 billion dollar. 30 billion more than
Bushs last defense budget.
And almost equalling the 787 billion dollars set aside by
the new administration for the economic crisis stimulus
package.
Why, despite the crisis, does the military budget keep
growing?
Are crises and military expansion related in some way?

SOLDIER
Here we have different presentations or sometimes
bands that come.
We even have talent night, if people want to show off
their talent.
We have a stage.
Weve done all sorts of things here, from Halloween
parties, Christmas parties.

There are other events that happen here at this centre

as well.
They have salsa classes, Ive never taken the salsa
classes.

PHYLLIS
In the early 21sty century, military bases, the network
of military bases all around the world, forms the new
empire that the US is trying to build.

When you look at the Pentagons website and their

public

information,

they

acknowledge

having

somewhere over 700 military bases scattered amongst

about 130 countries.
Thats astonishing.
Most Americans have no idea.
There are more than a quarter of a million, more than
250.000 US troops stationed on these bases all around
the world.

SOLDIER
Its not illegal to tape but I got to respect the
managers point of view.

Those are the movies that we have and the movies are
free.

JOHNSON
The unit of empire in the classic European empire was
the colony.
The unit for the American empire is not the colony, its
the military base.

CHOMSKY
Bases are the empire.
Theyre the point of projection of power and expansion
of power.

GERSON
Most people dont understand that the bases exist,
dont understand the functions of military bases.
And frankly its much easier for people to engage in
things like an atrocious war in Iraq, questions of
torture, things that immediately outrage them.

SOLDIER
These are Internet stations where the soldiers can not
only

check

the

Internet

but

they

also

have

the

capability of doing webcams back home.

You can go in.

LUTZ
To focus on war and not war preparation is to simply
shovel after the elephant.

One has to look at the war preparations that are going

on around the world, which military bases are central
to.
One has to look at the military-industrial complex in the
US and the weapons trade of a number of nations
around the world.
If one doesnt pay attention to that then again we can
only deal with the symptoms, which is warfare.
Theres a saying that goes When soldiers come, war
comes.

LANDOWNDER
In the past when the American soldiers came we would
ring this bell to scare them away.
We would scream: Yankee go home!.
The American bases havent only stolen our lands but
our whole way of life.
Our culture, our history and everything else.
Such a thing can't be tolerated.
They say the bases are here to guarantee world peace.
But theyve been used in the Korean War, in Vietnam
and now in Iraq.
In war people die, thats obvious.
I feel a great pain in my heart because our lands are
being used to kill people.
If a cook asks you for a knife there's nothing wrong in
lending it to him.
But if he asks you for a knife to murder someone
lending it to him would make you a murderer.
On this photograph it says: Give me back my land.

VOICE OVER
World War II marked the birth of Americas global
empire of bases.
For Germany, Italy and Japan, the defeat was followed
by

the

establishment

of

permanent

American

presence that continues to this day.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Okinawa, a little island
south of the Japanese mainland, which after the war
remained under US administration until 1972, when the
island was returned to Japan.
In those years, the US established dozens of military
bases on the island. Today, along with South Korea and
due to its proximity to China and Taiwan, Okinawa still
represents America's military stronghold in East Asia.
The island hosts 38 US bases, which house a force of
35.000 soldiers.
The growing tension between the US and the Soviet
Union, following the war, led to an unprecedented
global military build-up and to a strategy of exploitation
of people's fears that in various forms has continued to
this day.
In those years, America expanded into new territories,

first and foremost South Korea, which still hosts 26

major US bases.
But not all new bases were the consequence of war.
Some were the result of simple power politics.
Such is the case of Diego Garcia, a small island in the
Indian Ocean, part of the British overseas territories,
whose inhabitants got caught up in the global power
struggle.

JOHNSON
Nobody seems to know that Diego Garcia used to have
a considerable population that was entirely bungled up
and shipped out in order to, as the US Navy put it,
sanitize the place.

VINCATASSIN
The US wanted a base in the Indian Ocean at all costs,
because of the Cold War.
Diego Garcia has a wonderful lagoon that would really
be the ideal place for a base.

So we where at the wrong place, you know, at the

wrong place at that time, because that place was the
best place for the most sophisticated US/UK base
outside of the US and the UK.

VOICE OVER
In 1971, due to an agreement between the UK and the
US, the British made the island available to the
Americans
geostrategic

as

military

position,

and

base,

because

deported

its

of

its

2.000

inhabitants.
Today, according to the Pentagon, Diego Garcia is one
the 13 major US military bases in the world and has
played a crucial role in all post-9/11 conflicts.
The Diego Garcia exiles today live scattered between
Mauritius and the United Kingdom, where for years they
have been fighting a legal battle to return to their
island.
In 2008, though, the House of Lords overruled all the
cases previously won by the islanders, which upheld
their right of return.

DIEGO GARCIA ISLANDER

The US government is responsible.
They knew perfectly well that the island was inhabited.
They can see anything that happens anywhere in the
world.
They can't say they didn't know we were living on Diego
Garcia.

VINCATASSIN
We had to suffer exile for defense purposes.
And we paid that price, and that price was to be exiled
from your homeland for the defense of the West.

ARCHIVE
To a substantial degree, in one form or another,
socialism

has

spread

the

shadow

of

human

regimentation over most of the nations of the Earth,

and the shadow is encroaching upon our own liberty.

ARCHIVE

Our businesses have continued to provide a better life

for our increasing population, in spite of destructive
forces which have pounded against our foundation of
freedoms with no avail.
However wars, or the threat of wars, interrupt the
normal operations of our competitive business system.

JOHNSON
I was certainly a Cold Warrior.
I thought that the Soviet Union was a menace, I still do,
I still believe that we had every right to try and defend
ourselves against the power of the Soviet Union.
I began to change, I got new information after the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Above all how fast our country, the US, moved to find a
replacement enemy, to keep the military-industrial
complex functioning, to serve the vested interests in
the Cold War system.
I was appalled by this.
I believed that we should have, after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, eliminated any bases for this global
apparatus.

There was no further reason for it, it was irrelevant.

Instead they moved at once to find another enemy:
China, terrorism, drug lords, even instability.
Anything to keep it going.

BLUM
We needed an enemy.
Its as if we were a football team and we were
practicing to play a game, we were learning certain
plays, and now we didnt have any opponent.
How can we play this game anymore?
And so they needed a new enemy.
And the new enemy, well, for a while it was drugs.
We had a War on Drugs.
But then it became terrorism.
And that was a very good substitute in the minds of our
leaders.

ARCHIVE
Sometimes were afraid of big things.
And sometimes were afraid of very little ones.
But now, theres something else about fear that I dont
think you quite understand, Billy.
Whats that?
Well, sometimes when you become afraid there isnt
anything thats really dangerous.
Sometimes

you

think

things

are

dangerous

when

theyre not.
GROSSMAN
John Stockwell, former CIA agent, wrote a very pressing
book called In Search of Enemies, in which he
identified

different

eras

in

US

history

when

the

propaganda machine was geared up to identify a

particular enemy of the moment, in order that the US
public would support a military build-up or support a
particular war.
So today we have, for instance, Chavez in Venezuela,
who really hasnt worked out too well as an enemy, so I
think they really had to go to Ahmadinejad in Iran.
Before that it was Ortega in Nicaragua and Khomeini in
Iran, there was Ho Chi Minh and Castro for instance.

So there always has to be a set of enemies that justifies

US military build-up, particularly at a time when, for
instance, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there
was the danger that the US public would no longer
support continual war, continual military build-up.

GERSON
What then becomes the rationale for continuing to keep
these military bases, for continuing to have the military
alliances and continuing to have a military budget
thats equal to that of the rest of the world combined?
VIDAL
What a worldwide network of bases means is that you
have at your fingertips, if you are the emperor of the
West, the means of perpetual war.
Theres always somebody we dont like and somebody
who must be stopped.
Perpetual war for perpetual peace being the American
dream.
Once we were launched upon empire we would never
look back.
And we would always find a pretext to attack an enemy.

ARCHIVE
Targeting is an intricate process.
Many things are considered.
We have advanced weapon systems with precision
munitions and we take care in matching the appropriate
ordnance to produce the desired effect on the target.

VOICE OVER
The foundations for the New World Order were laid in
the Middle East in 1991.
Following the First Gulf War the US established a
permanent military presence in the Middle East, much
like it had done 50 years earlier in Europe and East
Asia.
The true consequences of this policy would be seen only
10 years later.
In 2001 Osama bin Laden cited the US military presence
in his homeland, Saudi Arabia, as a reason for his
hatred of the United States.
In a curious twist of fate, though, the 9/11 attacks and
America's military response paved the way for the birth
of new military bases in Iraq and Central Asia, first and
foremost in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon's Base Structure Report doesn't include

the bases present in war zones or those considered
politically sensitive, such as the ones in Israel.
The actual number of US bases around the world is thus
much

larger

than

the

716

admitted

by

the

US

government.

ARCHIVE
Before

engineers

and

contractors

can

begin

construction on buildings here at the 380 th they first

need a good foundation to build upon.

SOLDIER
We are in charge of keeping the base clean, fence
repair, concrete pads.

ARCHIVE
The heavy repair shop is currently working on pouring
the concrete foundation for the bases new temporary
gym.
This job requires a whole unite to come together to get
the job done.

LUTZ

The relationship between bases and war is a hand and

glove relationship.
Most of the US bases, I would say the majority, are the
result of war.
They are the booty or loot of war, in the sense that they
were captured during wartime and never given back.
When a very large, burly man comes and makes you an
offer you cant refuse you end up with a military base.

BLUM
One of the main reasons of US intervenes in various
parts of the world is to add bases.
For example, following the US bombing of Iraq in 1991,
the United States wound up with military bases in Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and United Arab
Emirates.
Following its bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 the US
wound up with military bases in Kosovo, Albania,
Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary, Bosnia, and Croatia.
Following its bombing of Afghanistan in 2002 the US
wound up with military bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kurdistan, Georgia,
Yemen, and Djibouti.

And following its bombing and invasion of Iraq in 2003

the US wound up with Iraq.

GROSSMAN
Staying behind, I believe, is the ultimate purpose of
many of these wars.
We used to think of military bases being built in order
to wage the wars, and I think increasingly we see the
wars themselves as convenient opportunities to station
the bases and to have a more permanent presence in
countries such as Iraq, such as Afghanistan, such as
Kosovo.

SOLDIER
What we have in here is videogames.

SOLDIER
My name is McIntosh.
Im with Task Force Bayonet, first platoon.
We run patrols daily, keeping a safe and secure
environment.

Ive wanted to be in the army for quite a long time.

And when I hit that age I was like: well, its a good way
to pay for college, to get to do something Ive been
wanting to do for a long time. Guns, being active, Ive
never wanted a desk job, so it had to be infantry for
me.
Something where I could be moving around, constantly
doing something active.
INTERVIEWER
How do you feel about being deployed to Iraq or
Afghanistan?

SOLDIER
Im nervous but Im ready.
If I get called to go, that could be another exciting
experience for me.

CLINTON
The US-Japan security alliance is the cornerstone of
Americas defense posture in the Asia Pacific.
The US is both a trans-Pacific and a trans-Atlantic
power but we couldnt project that power without the
men and women who serve here in Japan.

As we look at the region, it is at peace but we have

threats like what we hear every day from North Korea.
And the security mission and the humanitarian mission
that has been carried out from here in Japan with
respect to tsunamis and cyclones and so much else is
essential

to

leadership

continuing

and

being

to

undergird

prepared

for

Americas

the

kind

of

challenges we face but also to seize the opportunities

for a better future.

VOICE OVER
In 2009, after years of local protests, US Secretary of
State Clinton signed an agreement with the Japanese
government to move the 8.000 troops stationed in the
Futenma Air Base to the island of Guam, a US territory.
The move, though, is tied to the construction of a new
airstrip on the eastern coast of Okinawa, in Henoko Bay.
This project follows the decision to expand the Jungle
Warfare Training Centre in Takae, further north.
In short, the US has agreed to return some land to the
locals but only if they accept to give up more land
elsewhere on the island.
PROFESSOR
The US takes no responsibility for its impact on people

and the environment.

Now they are planning the construction of a huge
airstrip that would reclaim a large portion of sea.
Since many rare species live here this would have very
serious consequences.
The dugongs in Okinawa are the only ones in all of
Eastern Asia, and there are less than fifty left.
HENOKO ACTIVIST
This is an ideal habitat for the dugongs.
We have to do all we can to take care of it.
The reef is right here! It protects the bay and enables
the sea grass that the dugongs eat to flourish.
This is Camp Schwab military base.
The US established it in the midst of World War II.
The marines who come here are very young.
They're 17 or 18 years old. They come here because this
place the army uses this place to recruit new soldiers.
This is why they come here.
As you can see, it looks like a real sea resort.

TAKAE ACTIVIST 1.
We now find ourselves in the Yambaru forest.
This is the last major forest left in Okinawa and we
want it to be returned to us.

I find it strange that even if we are in Japan I can't enter

an area where a US flag is flying.
This is the only place in the world where the US soldiers
can train in the jungle.
That's why they don't want to give it up.
To protect the forest and our own lives we now picket
this place 24 hours a day.
These dots here: they are all US heliports.
According to their plans they should already have built
3 new helipads.
But until now weve prevented them to do so with our
pickets.
TAKAE ACTIVIST 2.
I sat in front of Camp Schwab for one year, from
morning to night.
I held up a sign saying: No New Bases.

A lot of soldiers came out to talk to me.

They offered me hamburgers for breakfast.
They were so young.
I couldn't believe they would be sent to Iraq to murder
other people.
Here these kids are trained to kill.
We must stop this!
We believe we can prevent the construction of these
helipads with our actions.
Obviously we only resort to peaceful means of protest.

CLINTON
We have a lot of challenges but we also have some real
opportunities and its up to each of us to determine the
role that we will play on behalf of our country and our
leadership.
But I have every confidence that when it comes to
defending

Americas

security

and

advancing

our

interests, we have nobody better than all of you.

So thank you, and thanks to your families, thanks for

the service and the sacrifice, and thanks for making a

difference every day.
ARCHIVE
Many of us fuss over how we look.
Some dont worry at all.
And theyre free to do that too.
But only because other shape up, step forward and
serve our country.

JOHNSON
By militarism we do not mean national defense, or the
obligation of citizenship for able body people to defend
the country in times of national emergency.
We mean a way of life, a way of making a living, an
ideological position.
Originally our conception of American military was like
the early Roman legions of the republic: they where
raised for emergency, farmers left their fields, went to
war and were instantaneously demobilized.
They where not long-service forces of any sort.
As

the

Roman

thoughtlessly

republic

acquired

slowly,

themselves

an

inadvertently,
empire

they

began to realize they needed standing armies.

Something like that happened in America after World
War II, as we began to build an arms industry and an
apparatus to support a

huge standing army

that

suddenly altered the political structure of the US.

LUTZ
The authors of the US Constitution made a strong point
that the military had to be under the control of civilian
leadership, that they always would present a threat to
democracy

because

institution,

they

they

are

an

are

not

authoritarian

democratic
institution

themselves.
And so, in general, when military institutions become
more

powerful

their

hierarchical

values,

their

authoritarian values come to dominate.

And the claims of national security come to be seen as
trumping the claims of democratic decision-making.
JOHNSON
This takes us back to probably the most famous
warning in the history of the US: George Washingtons
farewell address that used to be read at each opening
session of Congress and that is that the great enemy of
republicanism, of republican liberty is standing armies:
standing armies destroy federalism, they bring power
to Washington DC, they require more wealth in order to
maintain these armies.

These are long-service armies, 20 years or so. They

have to be taken care of when they become redundant,
things of these sorts.
It alters the power picture radically and thats of course
what ultimately brought down the Roman republic
LUTZ
When we talk about the military-industrial complex we
have to include bases as a part of that complex.
And observers have noted that there is something
called a carry on imperative and the carry on
imperative is that institutional momentum, and its
based in part on profit, particularly when you privatize.
Theres a profit motive for these corporations who are
helping to build and run the bases and provide the
weaponry that is then stored in those bases.
Theres

huge

number

of

corporations

who

are

profiting by all the equipment and the operations that

go on.
ARCHIVE
To

protect

the

future

of

America,

the

defense

techniques of tomorrow had to be discovered now.

They were discovered in electronics.

That is how SAGE brought computers into military

service.
Electronics for combat means new concepts, new tools,
new weapons.
You

are

listening

to

the

heartbeat

of

the

SAGE

computers.
Every instrument in this room is constantly monitoring,
testing, pulse-taking, controlling.
VIDAL
Who owns this place?
Who owns General Electric?
They make atom bombs.
Well how do they get the money to make them?
And whos giving it them?
And why?
To protect us from what?
These are all questions that someone like Obama
should have been asking himself.
It didnt just happen, the empire.

It was designed.
And those bases just came along like some terrible
cancer.
LUTZ
When you see how much money is at stake in the
operations that go on everyday, its phenomenal.
The number of flights that take off from Kadena Air
Force base every single day, just that one base in that
one country on one day will have involved thousands of
gallons of jet fuel, repair and maintenance and parts for
those aircraft.
The rationale for these bases is that theyre continually
practicing and training and using the equipment and
running the personnel through their paces and feeding
them and so on.
And that is an incredibly expensive operation.
JOHNSON
This is what president Eisenhower was warning about in
his farewell address in 1961, when he invented the
phrase military-industrial complex, meaning hidden
power, power that was not really under the supervision
of Congress, that was often out of control, represented
private interests rather than the national interest.
I am sorry to say that we America did not pay attention

to the warning he gave to us, and today it is close to

out of control.
America

is

not

powerhouse

of

manufacturing

anymore.
The one area where we are predominant is in weapons
and munitions in which easily we outclass every other
nation in supplying them to the world.
VOICE OVER
Many companies that operate in the defense sector
benefit from this system.
One of these is KBR, tied to the former US Vice
President Dick Cheney.
In 1999, following the conflict in ex-Yugoslavia, KBR
signed a multibillion contract with the US Department
of Defense to build Camp Bondsteel, in Kosovo, one of
the largest US bases in the world.
SOLDIER
One of the questions I get asked a lot is about Camp
Bondsteels size.
People ask me if Camp Bondsteel is the largest military
installation in Europe for the US.
The answer is no: this is certainly a good base and able
to support the missions that we have here and the

troops.
But as you can see it is designed not to be permanent.
And should the time come that its time for us to leave
we can pack this up and bring the buildings down.
VOICE OVER
In Macedonia, just a few miles away from Camp
Bondsteel and from the border with Kosovo, the US is
sponsoring the construction of a pipeline called AMBO.
The pipeline was initially conceived by a Macedonian
architect living in the US and is today pursued by his
son.
TASHKOVICH
My late father was a designer builder, an architect, of
luxury contemporary estates in New York state and
Connecticut state in America.
And he used to get this question a lot: what do you
know about building a pipeline across three countries
halfway around the world?
And his answer was: look at the complexity of the
houses I have designed and built.
And then ask yourself: what is so difficult about digging
a whole in the ground and putting a pipeline in it?

And the answer, of course, is: its not difficult. Whats

hard about it is the politics.
The AMBO project seeks to move between 35 and 45
million tons of oil per year, for about 1 dollar and 30
cents a barrel, from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of
Burgas to the Albanian Adriatic Sea port of Vlore.
The fact of the matter is that even at a dollar and 30 a
barrel its a profitable pipeline and cheaper than going
through the Bosphorus straits.
Its a real win-win situation, not only for the three
Balkan countries.
Everyone wins: its a win for the environment, its a win
for the oil companies, its a win for the countries.
It has to be built. I want to very strongly and sharply
condemn anybody who suggests that Dick Cheney and
Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo have anything to do with
this.
This project is so independent of all this stuff its not
even funny.
Ive been involved in the project since the beginning
and I can tell you that its absolutely laughable, the
assertions they make that Camp Bondsteel exists to
secure the route of the oil pipeline project or that Dick
Cheney had anything to do with it whatsoever.

So let me be categorical in my denial about this.

And I should know, because Ive been there since the
beginning.
VOICE OVER
KBR, though, did not only build Camp Bondsteel.
The company was also responsible for the AMBO
pipeline feasibility study.
And one of KBRs former managers is today CEO of
AMBO corporation.
Are these simple coincidences?
Or is it a case of corporate and military interests
working hand in hand?
KLARE
The US consumes one fourth of the worlds oil everyday,
more than any other country, far more than any other
country!
The US Department of Defense alone consumes as much
petroleum as Sweden does on a daily bases.
Thats a huge amount that has to be procured, day in,
day out, 365 days a year.

To

safeguard

that

oil

the

US

must

have

some

capacity to protect it and in this country that job has

been given to the military, and the military must have
bases, naval bases, Air Force bases, and Army bases in
the areas where that oil is located or along the supply
routes.
GROSSMAN
If you look at the map, collectively, there is an almost
continuous strain of US military bases from Poland to
Pakistan in this really strategic middle ground between
the emerging economic competitors of the US, the EU
on one hand and China an Japan on the other.

KLARE
The US has a formal policy of maintaining political
dominance of the Persian Gulf area.
Its called the Carter doctrine.
He said: protection of the Persian Gulf oil is a vital
interest of the US and to protect that flow we will use
any means necessary, including military force.
To that end, he said, we will need military bases in the
Persian Gulf area.
And he established military bases to support this policy
of protecting the flow of Persian Gulf oil, and then wars
were fought as well in line with that policy.

ARCHIVE
East and West are united in pioneering a new frontier of
progress.
Serving the interests of the Saudi Arabs.
Serving the interests of the US.
And demonstrating the vitality of the American system
of free enterprise.
A system which from this new frontier is pumping into
the trade of the world oil, one of the materials that is
making

truly

great

contribution

to

our

modern

civilization.
CHOMSKY
One of the reasons, the reason in fact, for the US
invasion of Iraq is to ensure US control over the major
energy resources of the world.
The embassy which is being built inside Baghdad is a
city, its like no other embassy in history or in the
world.
Theyre not building the embassy in Iraq and the huge
bases

around

with

an

intention

to

leave,

theyre

building them with an intention to maintain control.

LUTTWAK
Were not in the process of building bases in the Middle
East.
There will be an American base at Camp Victory.
Right now it occupies the whole area of the old
Baghdad international airport.
There will remain something there.
But in the Middle East we are not going to develop any
strategic cooperation.
Remember: a base is a strategic cooperation.
The model in the Middle East is: those are bad guys.
So with bad guys you dont sit there.
You may bomb those countries but you dont sit there.
VETERAN
The base I was located on was Forward Operating Base
Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq.
And while I was there they had a brand new gymnasium
built, they were in the process of starting a new dining
facility.
We had Burger King, Pizza Hut, we had our own coffee

shop.
It really became a joke.
I mean, there were no qualms.
People knew that if youre continuing to put this much
money into things and youve got contractors who have
been here 3 years, 4 years, they just follow the military
around wherever they go.
These arent things that I cant see the US government
just leaving and abandoning.
I mean, thats a lot of money that theyve put into some
of these forward operating bases in Iraq.
VOICE OVER
Since 2003 the US has built dozens of military bases in
Iraq.
In 2008, the US and Iraqi governments signed an
agreement that states that all foreign troops should
leave the country by 2011.
The agreement also says that the US will not seek
permanent bases or a "permanent military presence in
Iraq".
Obama's Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, though,
has stated that even after 2011 he expects to see

several tens of thousands of American troops as part

of a residual force in Iraq.
Hence, many fear that Iraq may be used as a launching
pad for future wars in the region.
Often,

in

fact,

bases

created

in

response

to

an

imminent threat have ended up becoming permanent.

Diego Garcia, for example, born in the context of the
Cold War, is still operational and has played a crucial
role in the Iraq War.
ISLANDER
We're three families.
Me, my daughter and Francesca.
One bedroom.
It's very sad.
This is the church on Salomon island.
This was my house on Diego Garcia.
They destroyed it.
ISLANDER
Our children are asking: Where were you born, mummy?

What country was it?

What were you doing on this island?
And they think at how strangers are now living on this
island, which is not for them anymore.
ISLANDER
They said in their feasibility study that the island is not
safe for the people to go there, to return there.
But the thing is, Americans are living there.
They have developed the island.
I even heard that the island looks like a little New York.
And Americans are enjoying their lives there.
Why should we not have the right to go on our island
and enjoy it the same way they are doing?
DIEGO GARCIA PROMO
Knowing by many as the Navys best-kept secret
because of its remote location, Diego Garcia is actually
home to about 3000 residents at any given time.
Theres also a unique assortments of quality of life
opportunities to take advantage of on Diego Garcia.
The islands athletic centre is open around the clock

with a wide range of workout equipment and a full size

gymnasium.
Be sure to spend as much time as possible on this
informative website to help you prepare for what will
certainly be a memorable assignment abroad.
LUTZ
When you try and think about who should be held
accountable for the violence thats waged from US
military bases I think theres plenty of responsibility to
go around.
It begins with US elites who make plans without
consulting the people of the US about where these
bases are going to go.
And the elites of the countries in which those bases are
located, who make the decisions to comply with US
requests

for

basing

without

consulting

with

their

people.
In fact, there have been many critiques of the ways in
which

decisions

are

made

between

lower

level

functionaries.
In other words, that agreements are made that bypass
the formal political structure of a country.
GERSON
By hosting US bases, countries lose their sovereignty in

a number of ways.
For example, questions of crime.
In Korea you had a situation where a US tank ran over
two schoolgirls who were on their way to a birthday
party.
These soldiers who were in the tank or their officers,
none of them was held accountable.
You can do a very interesting study in terms of the
SOFA, the status of forces agreement.
This is what is negotiated between the US and so-called
host nations and it determines what kinds of access the
US will have, what kind of political powers, what
happens when US soldiers commit crimes in these
countries.
And what you find is that the countries that have less
power or leverage in relation to the US have much
thinner SOFAs.
In these countries youll find that when US soldiers
commit crimes theyre not held accountable, theyre
not tried under the law of the host nation, theyre not
put in prison in the host nations.
Often theyre just brought out of the country, back to
the US, or theyre deployed to a war zone, because as

they say boys wills be boys and these guys have been
trained to be more aggressive and so they were
aggressive.
NELSON
Youre pumped, man.
Youre like shot up with steroids, you know.
Youre working out every day.
Youve got guns, youve got stuff, man.
So when you leave the base youre feeling pretty good
about yourself.
Youre feeling like youre a tough guy, you can kick
anybody in the butt.
So coming into town with that sort of attitude and
getting drunk, if theres someone looking at you the
wrong way you just knock the hell out of them, you
know.
Youre a soldier, youre a marine.
They like that stuff, the military likes that stuff.
They might say: we dont want our guys breaking local
laws and causing problems for the local people.

Bullcrap! Thats garbage.

If thats the case, then you dont let us off the base.
If you let us off the base theres going to be issues.
NELSON
I heard on the news one day about an Okinawan girl
that had been raped by US military men and I was very
upset over this because I remembered how we treated
the Okinawan people when I was here as an 18 year old.
And eventually some peace activist got in touch with
me and they and had a contact here in Okinawa.
When they found out that I had been stationed here
they let the anti-base people here know that theres an
ex marine who was stationed here whos doing peace
work now in America.
So they invited me to come back and do a week of
lectures.
So that was 1996 and thats when I came back and as
we moved around the island and I saw that the bases
where still here, I just couldnt believe it.
Its almost like a cancer here for these people.
Since the end of World War II these bases have been
here.

When I came here in 1966 to go to Vietnam, I dont

even remember Okinawan people.
I dont even remember seeing them.
They were just shadows walking around.
What I do remember is the drinking, the women and the
fighting.
Thats what I remember.
But in terms of Okinawan culture: I didnt eat their
food, I eat cheeseburgers at the base.
I didnt drink their alcohol, I drank Budweiser at the
base.
So this whole idea of Americanism stays within that
base, it stays within the militarism of ourselves.
This is something the Americans should know: what
happens

when

we

open

bases

in

other

peoples

countries.
What kind of problems does it solve, or does it cause
more problems?
And I think it does.
I think people get really angry at this idea that we are

policing the world, that we have a right to put bases

anywhere we want.
We dont have foreign bases in America: we dont have
any British base.
We dont have any Korean base.
We dont have any French base.
Theyre all American bases.
And for us, our bases are fine.
The noise is our noise, it doesnt bother us at all,
because theyre our bases.
But for other people, its a real problem.
LANDOWNER
This is a list of the crimes and accidents caused by the
US military in Okinawa.
The accidents are very frequent.
These are just a few.
I just didn't have time to write them all down.
NEWS REPORTER
The crash happened at 2:20 pm today.

The CH-53 helicopter from Futenma Air Base lost

control

while

flying

over

Okinawa

University

and

crashed into one of the school's buildings.

MAYOR
This is a CH-53.
Four years ago, a building of the local university was
destroyed by the crash of a large helicopter.
It was a real calamity.
It was a miracle no one died.
The Futenma Air Base violates a law of the Americans
themselves.
The point is that the airport is surrounded by houses.
Sometimes there are up to 40 take off and landings a
day.
The noise caused by the planes ruins the lives of our
citizens.
They fly right on top of heavily-populated residential
areas.
This means that there's always a very high risk of
disaster.

STUDENT
Here is a map of the base.
As you can see, it's right in the middle of the city.
TEACHER 1
This elementary school stands only 300 yards away
from the base.
Here we are inside the "clear zone", where the planes
take off and land.
That's why the planes fly so low.
And even the helicopters.
Sometimes they're so close we can see the pilot's face.
The noise is terrible.
They fly all day long. Non stop.
TEACHER 2
Some cry in the middle of the night.
Some even stopped coming to school.
When the accident at the Okinawa University happened,
I was scared.
But at least they were grown-ups who could take care

of themselves.
These are little kids, and it's up to us to protect them.
And that scares me, because I don't know how.
PROTESTERS
No No Dal Molin No No Dal Molin!
LEADER (OFF SCREEN)
We're here to say that Vicenza wont accept any more
military bases.
And won't accept any more war machines on its land.
Therefore, we say no to all military facilities!
To those that come in arms we say: "go home"!
VOICE OVER
In 2007 the US revealed its plans for a new military
base in Vicenza, Italy, just a few miles away from the
citys historical centre.
Vicenza already hosts a U.S. military base: the Caserma
Ederle, home to the Southern European Task Force and
one of ten major US bases in Italy.
The area designated for the new base is the ex-civilian
airport Dal Molin.

The plans for the new base include 48 buildings over 20

acres of land.
The new base will host the entire 173rd Airborne
Brigade, an elite combat force which has played a
crucial role in Iraq and Afghanistan.
LUTTWAK
I dont give a damn about Vicenza.
Because in Vicenza you have four people, three of
whom are over the age of 90, and the base in Vicenza is
a nothing of a base.
It doesnt generate smoke, noise, there are no planes
landing.
So anyone who complains in Vicenza, from my point of
view, is a dirty commie, ok? Why?
Because

the

Italian

government,

the

region,

the

authorities have decided: yes.

And they want to make a noise even though these are
entirely harmless people.
Its like having tourists.
They dont have tanks, they dont have helicopters,
they dont crash aeroplanes on your head.

So its purely ideological and negativist by a bunch of

people who dont do anything and are worthless.
CROWD
Referendum now! Referendum now!
VOICE OVER
In April 2008, Achille Variati is elected mayor of Vicenza
with the promise of holding a referendum on the new
base.
It is set to be held on October 5th.
But just a few days before, the Italian Supreme Court
blocks the referendum.
MAYOR
A referendum is a chance for each citizen to express his
or her will. And say whether they want the base or not.
It's a right granted to everyone, no one excluded!
What wrong has been done to us today?
What's happened is that someone in Rome has deprived
every one of us of the right to express our will.
VOICE OVER
Despite the court's decision, the citizens of Vicenza
decide to hold an autonomous referendum.

And on October 5th, 95% of the participants vote

against the new base.
CITIZEN
I don't want the Americans in my town and this is a
chance to say it our loud.
It's been almost 70 years since the end of the war and
we still have occupation troops in our city.
VOICE OVER
Despite the clear opposition of the people of Vicenza,
though, the Italian government gives the US the green
light to go head with the new base.
It's not unusual for the normal democratic process to be
subverted when it comes to military bases.
Most bases are in fact covered by secret treaties
between the US and host nations.
In Italy's case, this is the 1954 US-Italy bilateral
agreement, never made public nor ratified by the Italian
parliament.
PROTESTOR
Another truck is arriving, let's try to stay together!
JAPANESE OFFICIAL
Open the gate! Move! You're breaking the Special Law
on US military bases!

ACTIVIST
Do you know why we struggle like this?
Do you understand how we feel?
Even if the American and Japanese governments have
bullied us for years, have we ever killed an American?
Various girls have been raped.
Planes and helicopters have repeatedly crashed.
This is what these bases bring to us.
They have oppressed us for 62 bitter years.
We realize you're only doing your job.
But ours is a historical duty.
We wont pass this legacy on to future generations.
GERSON
When you go to elementary school, youre taught the
Declaration of Independence, and if youre paying
attention on the day that its taught youll be taught
that it says that King George the 3rd kept among us
standing armies in times of peace that committed
abuses and usurpations.

This is a language I cant make up.

This was a reason to declare independence from Britain

and even to go to war.
VOICE OVER
Obamas election was hailed by many in the world as
the beginning of a political phase radically different
from that of the Bush administration.
And in many ways it has been.
But the ever-growing military budget, the escalation of
the war in Afghanistan, the uncertainty surrounding the
fate of the US bases in Iraq and the plans for new
military bases in a number of countries, show how hard
it is for this or any other president to challenge those
policies that benefit the military-industrial complex and
perpetuate US hegemony over the rest of the world.
EISENHOWER
We

have

been

compelled

to

create

permanent

armaments industry of vast proportions.

In the councils of government, we must guard against
the

acquisition

of

unwarranted

influence

by

the

military-industrial complex.
The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power

exists and will persist.

VOICE OVER
In 1961 US president Eisenhower warned the world
against the threat posed by the growing commercial
interests of the arms industry, with its continuous need
for new wars to survive.
Today, 50 years later, his warning sounds more urgent
than ever.
The

global

economic

crisis

has

brought

down

all

illusions that this huge military machine can continue to

be fed without sacrificing other sectors of society.
The US must now choose: will it destine the countrys
dwindling

resources

to

strengthen

social

and

democratic institutions or will it continue to fuel this

parasitical complex that by definition can only produce
new weapons and new wars?
LANDOWNER
That's my land over there.
I hope to get it back one day.
I'd use the land to grow lots of white radish.
I could grow millions of them in that little space.
I would then distribute them freely to the people of

Okinawa.
In the name of peace!
If we all stay united in the struggle, I'm confident we
can prevail.
If we don't speak out against the theft of our lands we
will never be able to change the world!

TAKAE ACTIVIST
We have to keep our calm.
That's the only way we can prevail.
Ours is resistance, not terrorism! Resistance.
DIEGO GARCIA ISLANDER
If we were terrorists we would have attacked the base.
But we are not terrorists.
We're not against the bas in Diego Garcia if it's there
for the benefit of the world.
But they should have thought about us.
SOLDIER
Were here to provide a safe and secure environment

for everyone, regardless of what ethnic group they are

and

to

make

sure

that

people

have

freedom

of

movement, that kids can go to school, that people can

go to work and that people can sleep safely.
And we would like to see Kosovo develop and continue
to grow.
And there will be a point when KFOR is no longer
needed.
And we look forward to that day.
Any questions? Anything else?
Did you get everything you needed?