One look at a map can show why this island makes the best military base ever. Africa, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, all are within range of it. 1000 miles from any other inhabitants makes it easily defensible too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia
Here is its story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...policy.comment
From John Pilger -
Necessary sacrifice to win the cold war? Or not? Discuss...
Here is its story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...policy.comment
From John Pilger -
Quote:
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There are times when one tragedy, one crime tells us how a whole system works behind its democratic facade and helps us to understand how much of the world is run for the benefit of the powerful and how governments lie. To understand the catastrophe of Iraq, and all the other Iraqs along imperial history's trail of blood and tears, one need look no further than Diego Garcia. The story of Diego Garcia is shocking, almost incredible. A British colony lying midway between Africa and Asia in the Indian Ocean, the island is one of 64 unique coral islands that form the Chagos Archipelago, a phenomenon of natural beauty, and once of peace. Newsreaders refer to it in passing: "American B-52 and Stealth bombers last night took off from the uninhabited British island of Diego Garcia to bomb Iraq (or Afghanistan)." It is the word "uninhabited" that turns the key on the horror of what was done there. In the 1970s, the Ministry of Defence in London produced this epic lie: "There is nothing in our files about a population and an evacuation." Diego Garcia was first settled in the late 18th century. At least 2,000 people lived there: a gentle creole nation with thriving villages, a school, a hospital, a church, a prison, a railway, docks, a copra plantation. Watching a film shot by missionaries in the 1960s, I can understand why every Chagos islander I have met calls it paradise; there is a grainy sequence where the islanders' beloved dogs are swimming in the sheltered, palm-fringed lagoon, catching fish. ... |
Necessary sacrifice to win the cold war? Or not? Discuss...