Community | July 05, 2009 | 13 comments

Spending 102 billion a year on 800 worldwide military bases is bankrupting the country

source: http://www.alternet.org/story/141071/

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JanforGore

http://www.alternet.org/story/141071/

The U.S. Empire of Bases -- at $102 billion a year already the world's costliest military enterprise -- just got a good deal more expensive. As a start, on May 27th, we learned that the State Department will build a new "embassy" in Islamabad, Pakistan, which at $736 million will be the second priciest ever constructed, only $4 million less, if cost overruns don't occur, than the Vatican-City-sized one the Bush administration put up in Baghdad. The State Department was also reportedly planning to buy the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel (complete with pool) in Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, to use as a consulate and living quarters for its staff there.

Unfortunately for such plans, on June 9th Pakistani militants rammed a truck filled with explosives into the hotel, killing 18 occupants, wounding at least 55, and collapsing one entire wing of the structure. There has been no news since about whether the State Department is still going ahead with the purchase.

Whatever the costs turn out to be, they will not be included in our already bloated military budget, even though none of these structures is designed to be a true embassy -- a place, that is, where local people come for visas and American officials represent the commercial and diplomatic interests of their country. Instead these so-called embassies will actually be walled compounds, akin to medieval fortresses, where American spies, soldiers, intelligence officials, and diplomats try to keep an eye on hostile populations in a region at war. One can predict with certainty that they will house a large contingent of Marines and include roof-top helicopter pads for quick get-aways.

While it may be comforting for State Department employees working in dangerous places to know that they have some physical protection, it must also be obvious to them, as well as the people in the countries where they serve, that they will now be visibly part of an in-your-face American imperial presence. We shouldn't be surprised when militants attacking the U.S. find one of our base-like embassies, however heavily guarded, an easier target than a large military base.

And what is being done about those military bases anyway -- now close to 800 of them dotted across the globe in other people's countries? Even as Congress and the Obama administration wrangle over the cost of bank bailouts, a new health plan, pollution controls, and other much needed domestic expenditures, no one suggests that closing some of these unpopular, expensive imperial enclaves might be a good way to save some money.

Instead, they are evidently about to become even more expensive. On June 23rd, we learned that Kyrgyzstan, the former Central Asian Soviet Republic which, back in February 2009, announced that it was going to kick the U.S. military out of Manas Air Base (used since 2001 as a staging area for the Afghan War), has been persuaded to let us stay. But here's the catch: In return for doing us that favor, the annual rent Washington pays for use of the base will more than triple from $17.4 million to $60 million, with millions more to go into promised improvements in airport facilities and other financial sweeteners. All this because the Obama administration, having committed itself to a widening war in the region, is convinced it needs this base to store and trans-ship supplies to Afghanistan.

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13 comments // Spending 102 billion a year on 800 worldwide military bases is bankrupting the country

  • JanforGore
  • Snuff99
    • 0
      Snuff99  

    • war never ends. better to be prepared than the victim. you don't have to like it, it's the way the world IS, WAS and likely always will be.

    • 3 years ago
  • pukemnukem
    • 0
      pukemnukem  

    • Closing bases is a very complex issue. Also, military bases provide more than just warfare capabilities. There have been many times in which a US military base has provided vital and timely humanitarian services. The US Navy's response to the Tsunami comes directly to mind. Also, many military bases provide important sources of income to the local economy. Of course its not always good...there can be increases in crime and can be a focal point for protests. In closing a base, it can take years for it to occur manly due to the need to decontaminate former ranges, remove equipment, and ensure that there are no remaining ordinance. What is often overlooked as well is how most military bases represent important ecological habitats safe from development. The largest continuous uninhabited zone in Asia is the DMZ between North and South Korea. There are animals found there that are no longer found anywhere else in the world. Gitmo has the most well preserved and untouched coral reef in the entire world. In my home state of Maryland, APG has animal life that isn't found anywhere else in the state and they are only protected due to limited access allowed on the site. It isn't an easy, or a responsible decision to just shutdown ever US military base as rapidly as possible.

    • 3 years ago
  • thepatient
    • 0
      thepatient  

    • Instead of viewing the U.S. in the generic 'empire america' sense, you'd see that these foreign bases were established to provide a democratically backed presence in nations facing communist russia and asia during the cold war. the bases were neccesary and not put up to conquer europe or asia, and it aint that easy to tear down 800 bases a decade and a half after the end of the cold war, especially since america doesn't have its eye off of russia (who itself still strives for empire status). not that i agree, but to say that their establishment was based off of an imperial motivation doesn't agree with the history of the matter.

    • 3 years ago
  • oomlaut
    • 0
      oomlaut  

    • It seems like we should be reading our history books to find out exactly what happens to empires that don't curb their geographic growth.... just saying.

    • 3 years ago
  • diabolical44
  • rockstarmillionaire
  • cafiredancer
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Thanks for exemplifying so clearly the arrogant war mentality that continues to disgrace this nation in the eyes of the world and is in total antithesis to what our Founding Fathers were about. I hope you're proud of yourself.

    • 3 years ago
  • mewcomm
  • mewcomm
    • 0
      mewcomm  

    • This story has been around in variations for years. Maintaining and "empire" is expensive as the piece shows. But that is only news to an audience who knows little about the military.

      Indeed, I think I can safetly speculate that the vast majority of Current TV reader/viewers are not veterans or active duty military.

      This generation (18-30) are ignorant at large about Military operations, tactics and the "back end". The good news is, their views matter little in the policy debates.

    • 3 years ago
  • mewcomm
    • 0
      mewcomm  
    • mewcomm:

      Whoa....OneMaleFla,

      Civil discourse is always possible. And I didn't assume you were 24 and stoned. ( Although I wouldn't mind having this convo high).

      But the facts are the facts.

      Poll after Poll say that American youth oppose the draft.
      Military Recruiters are routinely shouted down on Campus
      The U.S. Army had to reduce standards so low that in the Fall of 2008, fully 24% of the Army were high school dropouts. (A number SecDef Gates pledged to reduce).

      The Sons and Daughters of the educated and affluent talk about supporting the troops. But they are decidedly absent from their ranks.

      Cheers,
      mew

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Yes, it does leave you kind of speechless, doesn't it? And here we all thought change was coming. They shaft us on healthcare, the climate, etc. but they can ALWAYS find $$$$$$$$ for war and building spa embassies and military bases... oh yes, and bailing out banks.

    • 3 years ago
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