16: THE LILY PAD STRATEGY

  1. U.S. Department of Defense, “Global Defense Posture and International Agreements Overview,” slide presentation, April 27, 2009, 6.

  2. Ibid., 9.

  3. Ibid., 3. Two principles that have guided the acquisition and maintenance of large numbers of overseas bases since World War II still appear to be at work today. They are “redundancy”—the more bases, the safer the nation—and “strategic denial”—preventing supposed enemies from using a territory by denying them access—both of which hold that even if the military has little interest in using a base or a territory, it should acquire as many as possible for every possible contingency and almost never cede its acquisitions.

  4. Cited by Raymond F. DuBois in Center for Strategic and International Studies, “2010 Global Security Forum: What Impact Would the Loss of Overseas Bases Have on U.S. Power Projection?” transcript, Federal News Service, May 13, 2010.

  5. David C. Chandler Jr., “‘Lily-pad Basing Concept Put to the Test,” Army Logistician, March–April 2005, 11–13.

  6. John Lindsay-Poland, “Pentagon Building Bases in Central America and Colombia Despite Constitutional Court Striking Down Base Agreement,” Fellowship of Reconciliation, blog, January 27, 2011, http://forusa.org/blogs/john-lindsay-poland/pentagon-building-bases-central-america-colombia/8445; “Honduras and the U.S. Military,” Fellowship of Reconciliation, blog, September 21, 2011, http://forusa.org/blogs/john-lindsay-poland/honduras-us-military/9943.

  7. U.S. Department of Defense, Contract Announcement, Defense Logistics Agency, Washington, DC, April 25, 2009, http://www.defense.gov/Contracts/Contract.aspx?ContractID=2994; Contract Announcement, Defense Logistics Agency, Washington, DC, January 15, 2009, http://www.defense.gov/Contracts/Contract.aspx?ContractID=3944.

  8. Thom Shanker, “Lessons of Iraq Help U.S. Fight a Drug War in Honduras,” New York Times, May 5, 2012, A1, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/world/americas/us-turns-its-focus-on-drug-smuggling-in-honduras.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  9. Ibid., A1.

10. Ibid., A14.

11. Library of Congress, “Honduras: United States Military Assistance and Training,” Country Studies Series, Federal Research Division, Washington, DC, http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-5731.html.

12. Kathleen H. Hicks, “Transitioning Defense Organizational Initiatives: An Assessment of Key 2001–2008 Defense Reforms,” report, Center for Strategic and International Studies, November 2008, 13.

13. Thanks to John Lindsay-Poland for making this point.

14. The unpublicized multiagency campaign also outlined a “public-private partnership” involving a major real estate development firm, General Electric, and humanitarian aid groups (including one directed by the son of Undersecretary of State Maria Otero). Hugo Llorens, “Mission Integrated Strategy to Fight Crime and Illicit Trafficking in La Mosquitia,” cable no. 09TEGUCIGALPA353, Tegucigalpa, May 15, 2009, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/05/09TEGUCIGALPA353.html.

15. U.S. Department of Defense, “Operations and Maintenance, Fiscal Year (FY) 2014,” 69–72.

16. Herbert Docena, “The US Base in the Philippines,” Inquirer.net, February 20, 2012, http://opinion.inquirer.net/23405/the-us-base-in-the-philippines; Jane’s Sentinel Security Assessment, “Philippines—Security and Foreign Forces,” May 14, 2009.

17. Kaplan, Hog Pilots, 315.

18. Ibid., 154.

19. Carmela Fonbuena, “PH, US ‘Close’ to Signing Military Deal,” Rappler.com, February 5, 2014, www.rappler.com/nation/49733-philippines-united-states-bases-access; “PH, US Bases Access Talks Reach ‘Impasse,’” Rappler.com, November 6, 2013, http://www.rappler.com/nation/43025-bases-access-philippines-united-states-impasse.

20. Docena, “US Base in the Philippines.”

21. Amedee Bollee, “Djibouti: From French Outpost to US Base,” Review of African Political Economy 30, no. 97 (2003): 481–84.

22. Lauren Ploch, “Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa,” Congressional Research Service, report, Washington, DC, July 22, 2011, 9, 13. On the four thousand figure: Benjamin A. Benson email to author, November 13, 2014.

23. George W. Bush, “President Bush Creates a Department of Defense Unified Combatant Command for Africa,” press release, February 6, 2007, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070206-3.html.

24. Catherine Besteman, “Counter AFRICOM,” in The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual, or Notes on the Militarization of America, edited by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists Steering Committee (Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2009), 118–21.

25. Benson email to author. See also Nick Turse, “The Classic Military Runaround: Your Tax Dollars at Work Keeping You in the Dark,” TomDispatch, July 7, 2013, www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175721.

26. Akil R. King, Zackary H. Moss, and Afi Y. Pittman, “Overcoming Logistics Challenges in East Africa,” Army Sustainment, January-February 2014, 30.

27. Craig Whitlock, “U.S. Expands Secret Intelligence Operations in Africa,” Washington Post, June 13, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-expands-secret-intelligence-operations-in-africa/2012/06/13/gJQAHyvAbV_story.html; Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller, “U.S. Building Secret Drone Bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Officials Say,” Washington Post, September 20, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-drone-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage; Craig Whitlock, “Contractors Run U.S. Spying Missions in Africa,” Washington Post, June 14, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/contractors-run-us-spying-missions-in-africa/2012/06/14/gJQAvC4RdV_story.html.

28. Whitlock, “U.S. Expands”; Craig Whitlock, “Mysterious Fatal Crash Provides Rare Glimpse of U.S. Commandos in Mali,” Washington Post, July 8, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mysterious-fatal-crash-provides-rare-glimpse-of-us-commandos-in-mali/2012/07/08/gJQAGO71WW_story.html.

29. Shashank Bengali, “U.S. Military Investing Heavily in Africa,” Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2013. http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-usmilitary-africa-20131020-story.html#page=1.

30. Nick Turse, “The Pivot to Africa,” TomDispatch, September 5, 2013, www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743.

31. Craig Whitlock, “U.S. to Airlift African Troops to Central African Republic,” Washington Post, December 9, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-to-airlift-african-troops-to-central-african-republic/2013/12/09/abdd9c64-6107-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story.html.

32. Craig Whitlock, “U.S. Trains African Soldiers for Somalia Mission,” Washington Post, May 13, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-trains-african-soldiers-for-somalia-mission/2012/05/13/gIQAJhsPNU_story.html.

33. Bureau of Investigative Journalism, “Somalia: Reported US Covert Actions 2001–2014,” website, February 22, 2012, http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/02/22/get-the-data-somalias-hidden-war/; Whitlock, “U.S. Trains African Soldiers”; Richard Reeve and Zoë Pelter, “From New Frontier to New Normal: Counter-terrorism Operations in the Sahel-Sahara,” London: Remote Control Group/Oxford Research Group, August 2014, 25.

34. Jeremy Scahill, “The CIA’s Secret Sites in Somalia,” Nation, December 10, 2014 [August 1–8, 2011], http://www.thenation.com/article/161936/cias-secret-sites-somalia; Reeve and Pelter, “New Frontier to New Normal,” 25.

35. Reeve and Pelter, “New Frontier to New Normal,” 2, 4.

36. Ploch, “Africa Command,” 22–23.

37. Whitlock, “U.S. to Airlift African Troops.”

38. Turse, “Pivot to Africa”; Reeve and Pelter, “New Frontier to New Normal,” 22.

39. See e.g. Guy Martin, “AAR Awarded US Military African Airlift Contract,” DefenceWeb, December 4, 2013, http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32932:aar-awarded-us-military-african-airlift-contract&catid=47:Logistics&Itemid=110; Lalit Wadha, “The Society of American Military Engineers,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District, PowerPoint presentation, April 12, 2013; see also Reeve and Pelter, “New Frontier to New Normal,” on contracts.

40. Ploch, “Africa Command,” 10; C. Johnson, Nemesis, 147–48; Cooley, Base Politics, 238, 242.

41. Carter Ham, Statement of General Carter Ham, USA Commander United States Africa Command, Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, March 7, 2013.

42. Brady Dennis and Missy Ryan, “Fewer U.S. Troops than Initially Planned Will Be Deployed Against Ebola in West Africa,” Washington Post, November 12, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/fewer-us-troops-than-initially-planned-will-be-deployed-against-ebola-in-west-africa/2014/11/12/74e37574-6a9a-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html.

43. Claudette Roulo, “DoD Brings Unique Capabilities to Ebola Response Mission, Official Says,” DOD News, November 12, 2014, http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=123624; see also Reeve and Pelter, “New Frontier to New Normal.”

44. Benson email to author.

45. Paul McLeary, “US Deployments to Africa Raise a Host of Issues,” Defense News, May 3, 2014, http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140503/DEFREG04/305030020/US-Deployments-Africa-Raise-Host-Issues, citing 5,000–8,000 plus the 3,000 Ebola additions. See also Rick Rozoff, “Pentagon’s Last Frontier: Battle-Hardened Troops Headed to Africa,” Op-ed News, June 12, 2012, http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pentagon-s-Last-Frontier–by-Rick-Rozoff-120612-54.html.

46. The total troop size at the two largest bases in Latin America, Guantánamo Bay and Soto Cano, totals around 2,500 to 4,000 at most. Small numbers of troops are deployed elsewhere in Latin America. U.S. Department of Defense, “Total Military Personnel and Dependent End Strength, as of: June 30, 2014.”

47. Turse, “Pivot to Africa”; Oscar Nkala and Kim Helfrich, “US Army Looking to Contractors for African Operations,” DefenceWeb, September 17, 2013, http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31919:us-army-looking-to-contractors-for-african-operations&catid=56:diplomacy-a-peace&Itemid=111. Some members of Congress favor an even larger presence. In its fiscal year 2015 national defense bill, the House asked the Pentagon to increase the U.S. presence and “achieve the associated basing and access agreements to support such forces across the Continent of Africa.”

48. Paul C. Wright, “U.S. Military Intervention in Africa: The New Blueprint for Global Domination,” Global Research, August 20, 2010, http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=20708; Voice of America, “Sao Tome Sparks American Military Interest,” October 28, 2009, http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2004-11-12-voa42-66870572/376603.html.

49. BBC News, “US Naval Base to Protect Sao Tome Oil,” BBC, August 22, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2210571.stm.

50. James Bellamy Foster, “A Warning to Africa: The New U.S. Imperial Grand Strategy,” Monthly Review 58, no. 2 (2006), http://www.monthlyreview.org/0606jbf.htm.

51. Michael Klare and Daniel Volman, “America, China and the Scramble for Africa’s Oil,” Review of African Political Economy 33, no. 108 (2006): 298–302.

52. Randal C. Archibold, “China Buys Inroads in the Caribbean, Catching U.S. Notice,” New York Times, April 7, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/world/americas/us-alert-as-chinas-cash-buys-inroads-in-caribbean.html?pagewanted=all.

53. Nick Turse, “The New Obama Doctrine, A Six-Point Plan for Global War Special Ops, Drones, Spy Games, Civilian Soldiers, Proxy Fighters, and Cyber Warfare,” TomDispatch, June 14, 2012, http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175557/nick_turse_the_changing_face_of_empire.

54. Jeremy Scahill, Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield (New York: Nation Books, 2013), 4.

55. Priest, Mission, 206

56. Lesley Gill, The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004), 235–37.

57. Peter J. Meyer, “Honduras-U.S. Relations,” Congressional Research Service, report, Washington, DC, February 5, 2013, 14.

58. Gill, School of the Americas, 235.

59. Vine, Island of Shame, chapter. 6.

60. Kaplan, Imperial Grunts, 167.

61. Kaplan, Hog Pilots, 319.

62. United States Senate Subcommittee on United States Security Agreements and Commitments Abroad, “United States Security Agreements and Commitments Abroad,” 2433–34.

63. Klare and Volman, “America, China and the Scramble,” 306; Sandra T. Barnes, “Global Flows: Terror, Oil, and Strategic Philanthropy,” African Studies Review 48, no. 1 (2005): 11.

64. Samantha Hawley, “Cocos Islands: US Military Base, Not in Our Lifetime,” PM, March 28, 2012, http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3465894.htm; Pauline Bunce, “The Riddle of the Islands: Australia’s Oft Forgotten Indigenous Island Community,” Arena Magazine 128 (2014): 36–38.

65. http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/IPC/weedinfo/nymphaea.htm.

66. Harkavy, Strategic Basing, chapter 6.

67. Klare and Volman, “America, China and the Scramble,” 307.