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Diego Garcia, 1975

United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Special Subcommittee on Investigations

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 132


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Diego Garcia is about the Navy's need for secure communications in the Indian Ocean area, and who and how this need was fulfilled. The establishment of a classified radio station on the island of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago precipitated considerable national and international debate during the Cold War. How Diego Garcia became the linchpin of United States strategy in the Indian Ocean and Southwest Asia illustrates the complexities and difficulties that a democracy faces whenever it addresses national security issues. During the early 1970's, as British presence East of Suez was being withdrawn, India led an effort to establish a Zone of Peace, and the dependence on Middle East oil required the United States to establish an Indian Ocean presence effectively and unobtrusively. Diego Garcia fills in a 25 year gap in the history of this base, and those who made it possible.
Diego Garcia is a pivotal US base for all Middle East operations. This book describes its evolution from a secret US-UK bilateral deal in 1966 and the deportation of the native population in the 70s to its new role in Guantánamo-style 'renditions' and the impact of miltary construction on its environment.
David Vine recounts how the British & US governments created the Diego Garcia base, making the native Chagossians homeless in the process. He details the strategic significance of this remote location & also describes recent efforts by the exiles to regain their territory.
For over two centuries, the Ilois people had inhabited the beautiful islands of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. They lived a simple, largely self-sufficient, life as fishermen and farmers, occasionally visiting Mauritius and other islands. Although the islands were administered by the British government the politics of colonialism were remote from the daily lives of the Ilois people. In the 1950s the British Colonial Office described the people of the islands as living ‘in surroundings of wonderful natural beauty and in conditions most tranquil and benign’. In 1966 all this changed. Although the other islands in the British Indian Ocean Territories were granted independence, Diego Garcia was not included. Instead it was leased to the US as a military base. The Ilois were evacuated and transported to Mauritius where they were left to live – and die – in the slums of Port Louis without food, money, housing or compensation. Most suffered severely, including some who died of hunger. Today Diego Garcia is the largest US military base in the Indian Ocean and the Ilois are not allowed to return – either to live or visit. For over two centuries, the Ilois people had inhabited the beautiful islands of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. They lived a simple, largely self-sufficient, life as fishermen and farmers, occasionally visiting Mauritius and other islands. Although the islands were administered by the British government the politics of colonialism were remote from the daily lives of the Ilois people. In the 1950s the British Colonial Office described the people of the islands as living ‘in surroundings of wonderful natural beauty and in conditions most tranquil and benign’. In 1966 all this changed. Although the other islands in the British Indian Ocean Territories were granted independence, Diego Garcia was not included. Instead it was leased to the US as a military base. The Ilois were evacuated and transported to Mauritius where they were left to live – and die – in the slums of Port Louis without food, money, housing or compensation. Most suffered severely, including some who died of hunger. Today Diego Garcia is the largest US military base in the Indian Ocean and the Ilois are not allowed to return – either to live or visit. Please note that the terminology in the fields of minority rights and indigenous peoples’ rights has changed over time. MRG strives to reflect these changes as well as respect the right to self-identification on the part of minorities and indigenous peoples. At the same time, after over 50 years’ work, we know that our archive is of considerable interest to activists and researchers. Therefore, we make available as much of our back catalogue as possible, while being aware that the language used may not reflect current thinking on these issues.
The American military base on the island of Diego Garcia is one of the most strategically important and secretive U.S. military installations outside the United States. Located near the remote center of the Indian Ocean and accessible only by military transport, the little-known base has been instrumental in American military operations from the Cold War to the war on terror and may house a top-secret CIA prison where terror suspects are interrogated and tortured. But Diego Garcia harbors another dirty secret, one that has been kept from most of the world--until now. Island of Shame is the first major book to reveal the shocking truth of how the United States conspired with Britain to forcibly expel Diego Garcia's indigenous people--the Chagossians--and deport them to slums in Mauritius and the Seychelles, where most live in dire poverty to this day. Drawing on interviews with Washington insiders, military strategists, and exiled islanders, as well as hundreds of declassified documents, David Vine exposes the secret history of Diego Garcia. He chronicles the Chagossians' dramatic, unfolding story as they struggle to survive in exile and fight to return to their homeland. Tracing U.S. foreign policy from the Cold War to the war on terror, Vine shows how the United States has forged a new and pervasive kind of empire that is quietly dominating the planet with hundreds of overseas military bases. Island of Shame is an unforgettable exposé of the human costs of empire and a must-read for anyone concerned about U.S. foreign policy and its consequences. The author will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Chagossians. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
America's overseas Garrisons analyses the political and social problems, which arise when American forces are stationed in other countries. The United States, although critical of the British Empire during the Second World War, found itself playing an imperial role in the post-war era in order to safeguard the security of the west. In building up a global security system, with American troops in Europe, the Far East, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean and the Pacific, the United States came to resemble the former colonial powers. But whereas the colonial empire had established garrisons on territory acquired by force, the United States was obliged to negotiate basing rights for their troops by negotiating with independent sovereign states. The result was a variety of arrangements with different host nations, in which the American position, and the use America could make of her troops overseas, was critically dependant of America's political and historical relationship with the country concerned. The United States has based more troops overseas than any of the colonial empires. However, the terms of the leasehold empire have imposed severe constraints on America's freedom of manoeuvre.