How U.S. Military Bases Back Dictators, Autocrats, and Military Regimes - By David Vine
The 45 nations and
territories with little or no democratic rule represent more than half of the
roughly 80 countries now hosting U.S. bases (who often lack
the power to ask their “guests” to leave). They are part of a
historically unprecedented global network of military installations
the United States has built or occupied since World War II. Today, while there
are no foreign bases in the United States, there are around 800 U.S. bases in foreign countries. That number was recently even higher,
but it still almost certainly represents a record for any nation or empire in history.
Much outrage has been expressed in recent weeks over President Donald Trump’s invitation for a White House visit to Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, whose “war on drugs” has led to thousands of extrajudicial killings. Criticism of Trump was especially intense given his similarly warm public support for other authoritarian rulers like Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi (who visited the Oval Office to much praise only weeks earlier), Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan (who got a congratulatory phone call from President Trump on his recent referendum victory, granting him increasingly unchecked powers), and Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-ocha (who also received a White House invitation).
US nears $100bn arms deal for Saudi Arabia in time for Trump's visit
But here’s the strange
thing: the critics generally ignored the far more substantial and long-standing
bipartisan support U.S. presidents have offered these and dozens of other
repressive regimes over the decades. After all, such autocratic countries share
one striking thing in common. They are among at least 45 less-than-democratic nations and territories that
today host scores of
U.S. military bases, from ones the size of not-so-small American towns to tiny
outposts. Together, these bases are homes to tens of thousands of U.S. troops. To
ensure basing access from Central America to Africa, Asia to the Middle East,
U.S. officials have repeatedly collaborated with fiercely anti-democratic
regimes and militaries implicated in torture, murder, the suppression of
democratic rights, the systematic oppression of women and minorities, and
numerous other human rights abuses.
Forget the recent White House invitations
and Trump’s public compliments. For nearly three quarters of a century, the
United States has invested tens of billions of dollars in maintaining bases and
troops in such repressive states. From Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower to
George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Republican and Democratic administrations
alike have, since World War II, regularly shown a preference for maintaining bases in undemocratic and
often despotic states, including Spain under Generalissimo Francisco Franco,
South Korea under Park Chung-hee, Bahrain under King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa,
and Djibouti under four-term President Ismail Omar Guelleh, to name just four. Many of the 45
present-day undemocratic U.S. base hosts qualify as fully “authoritarian
regimes,” according to the Economist Democracy Index. In such cases, American
installations and the troops stationed on them are effectively helping block
the spread of democracy in countries like Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Jordan,
Kuwait, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This pattern of daily
support for dictatorship and repression around the world should be a national
scandal in a country supposedly committed to democracy… read more:
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