Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.s. Military Base on Diego Garcia

by Vine, David

• ISBN13: 9781400829972
• ISBN10: 1400829976
• Copyright: 2009-03-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

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 base was a little-known launch pad for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 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 Shameis 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 Shameis an unforgettable exposeacute; of the human costs of empire and a must-read for anyone concerned about U.S. foreign policy and its consequences.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Abbreviations and Initialisms	p. xvii
A Note to the Reader	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
The Ilois, The Islanders	p. 20
The Bases of Empire	p. 41
The Strategic Island Concept and a Changing of the Imperial Guard	p. 56
"Exclusive Control"	p. 72
"Maintaining the Fiction"	p. 89
"Absolutely Must Go"	p. 99
"On the Rack"	p. 112
Derasine: The Impoverishment of Expulsion	p. 126
Death and Double Discrimination	p. 137
Dying of Sagren	p. 149
Daring to Challenge	p. 164
The Right to Return and a Humanpolitik	p. 180
Epilogue	p. 197
My Thanks	p. 199
Further Resources	p. 203
Notes	p. 205
Index	p. 249
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.