Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

Associated Press
June 24, 2009
By Leila Saralayeva

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — A parliamentary committee on Tuesday backed a deal that allows the United States to ship non-lethal military supplies through a Kyrgyz air base to Afghanistan — four months after the Central Asian nation ordered the eviction of U.S. troops from the base.

The accord to use Manas airport as “center of transit shipments” falls short of U.S. hopes of maintaining the facility as a full-fledged military air base. But it would provide a much-needed logistical support base as the U.S.-led coalition ramps up operations against the increasingly bold Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan.

The deal was backed by the Kyrgyz parliament’s defense committee and now goes to the full parliament for a vote — expected later this week.

Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbaev told the committee that under the new agreement, rent for the base will increase to $60 million per year from the current $17 million.

U.S. officials at the embassy in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, said they were unable to provide immediate comment on the deal. …

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5goSq-Hk4_xi9Fm7sI4SLjpc5neiwD9909S680

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The Orange Party
June 01, 2009

The shameful cover-up by the foreign secretary who lied to parliament over illegal secret renditions on the tiny crown island of Diego Garcia has been exposed, while the government’s disgraceful dirty little secret has been systematically wiped from the official record.

Time and again the … government has scoffed at suggestions the island was used as a Guantanamo (Gitmo) style black-site prison.

Now two terror suspects who were flown by the CIA to the UK territory and later allegedly tortured have been named and evidence about their treatment has been revealed for the first time, according to the Guardian. …

After repeated denials by ministers, fresh evidence prepared for the commons foreign affairs committee by Clive Stafford Smith, of the human rights group Reprieve, show two men, referred to by foreign secretary, David Miliband, had been rendered through the island in 2002.

And the government had systematically destroyed flight logs for the US airbase, according to LibDems foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davy.

The government has an appalling record over the tiny island in the Indian Ocean since leasing it out to the US in the 1970s. Then locals were forced out to live in poverty more than 1,000 miles away in Mauritius, so the island could be turned into a US military base.

One of the alleged terrorists held at Diego Garcia cited in the Reprieve evidence before he was flown on to Gitmo is the subject of a police investigation into “possible criminal wrongdoing” by the CIA and an MI5 officer.

Stafford Smith said: “It is time for the UK government to come clean about its role in the detention and to reveal who else has been held on and rendered through Diego Garcia, what happened to them there, and where they are now.”

Unlike Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay, no-one can drop by Diego Garcia, even with a UK passport. Anyone entering territorial waters will be arrested. The island, which has a huge airstrip, is full of US military …

The government has a shameful record over the use of the island and the treatment of its people. In 2004, Blair exiled the whole population from the Overseas Territory when he issued an Order of Council stopping the islanders from ever going back, using the ‘royal prerogative’ without recourse to parliament or the crown.

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/uks-secret-gitmo-exposed_5737.html

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BBC News – UK
26 May 2009

President Nicolas Sarkozy has formally opened a French military base in the United Arab Emirates, France’s first permanent base in the Gulf.

The flags of France and the UAE were raised at a ceremony at the so-called “Peace Camp” in the Abu Dhabi emirate.

France is a leading military supplier to the Gulf state, and signed a nuclear co-operation agreement last year. …

The US maintains the predominant foreign military presence in the Gulf, with key air bases and logistics operations, and its Fifth Fleet housed in Bahrain.

However, Peace Camp gives France a strategic position on the vital Gulf shipping corridor, which carries about 40% of the world’s petroleum supplies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8067600.stm

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21 May 2009
Fabius Maximus

The invasion of Iraq achieved what might be its primary purpose: a chain of bases from which America can project power throughout the Middle East… Now the colonization of Afghanistan begins (the past 7 years, Operation Enduring Freedom, being just a holding action). Across Afghanistan a chain of bases rises. Such as Camp Leatherneck. Any bets on how long we’ll be there? …

As America’s foreign policy becomes increasingly defined by our hubris and paranoia — seeing a world filled with nothing but client states, rivals, and enemies — we construct something almost unique in history: an Empire with no economic basis. Costing much, built with borrowed money, and providing no economic benefit to America (although enriching powerful special interests). A monument to folly. …

Read more…
fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/imperial/

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Korea Times – South Korea
By Jung Sung-ki
29 April 2009

South Korea and the United States have failed to finalize a deal on the relocation of U.S. military bases to south of Seoul.

Both sides, however, neared a final agreement, as they narrowed their differences on most aspects of the deal, including the timing, cost and other matters, but not the construction of homes for U.S. military families assigned to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, a spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.

The two sides will hold another round of talks in May, he said. …

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed here as a deterrent against Stalinist North Korea, which is seeking to become a nuclear power. …

The project is estimted to cost about $13 billion, about 50 percent of which is being provided by South Korea.

www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/04/116_44093.html

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