The Pentagon's New Generation of Secret Military Bases

[morningfog]

The first thing I saw last month when I walked into the belly of the dark grey C-17 Air Force cargo plane was a void—something missing. A missing left arm, to be exact, severed at the shoulder, temporarily patched and held together. Thick, pale flesh, flecked with bright red at the edges. It looked like meat sliced open. The face and what remained of the rest of the man were obscured by blankets, an American flag quilt, and a jumble of tubes and tape, wires, drip bags, and medical monitors.

That man and two other critically wounded soldiers—one with two stumps where legs had been, the other missing a leg below the thigh— were intubated, unconscious, and lying on stretchers hooked to the walls of the plane that had just landed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. A tattoo on the soldier's remaining arm read, "DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR."

I asked a member of the Air Force medical team about the casualties they see like these. Many, as with this flight, were coming from Afghanistan, he told me. "A lot from the Horn of Africa," he added. "You don't really hear about that in the media."

"Where in Africa?" I asked. He said he didn't know exactly, but generally from the Horn, often with critical injuries. "A lot out of Djibouti," he added, referring to Camp Lemonnier, the main US military base in Africa, but from "elsewhere" in the region, too.

* * *

Around the world, from Djibouti to the jungles of Honduras, the deserts of Mauritania to Australia's tiny Cocos Islands, the Pentagon has been pursuing as many lily pads as it can, in as many countries as it can, as fast as it can. Although statistics are hard to assemble, given the often-secretive nature of such bases, the Pentagon has probably built upwards of 50 lily pads and other small bases since around 2000, while exploring the construction of dozens more.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/pentagon-new-generation-military-bases-tom-dispatch

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. and look where Djibouti is...

Last edited Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:02 AM - Edit history (1)

"Most (OIL) exports from the Persian Gulf... pass through the Bab el-Mandab... an estimated 3.2 million bbl/d..."

EIA: The Strait of Bab el-Mandab is a chokepoint between the horn of Africa and the Middle East, and a strategic link between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. It is located between Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea, and connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Most exports from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal and SUMED pipeline also pass through the Bab el-Mandab.


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[piratefish08]

2. we will own the motherfucking world, or kill everyone trying.

USA - FUCK YEAH!

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. "something approaching total military control over the planet."

Pretty much there already, it seems.

terrific article.