by Paul A. Iversen
Most Americans live their lives blithely unaware of the impact that our sprawling network of military bases has on others’ local politics, populations and landscapes, in no small part because our main stream media generally ignore their quotidian operations until some trouble arises and the US government issues a travel advisory. Then we inevitably hear the refrain, especially from those ill-informed about the particular situation, that civilization owes us a never ending debt of gratitude for reviving democracy and for defeating the Nazis and Fascists in WWII, or that what’s good for America is good for the world. Such apparently are the beliefs that underwrite some of the knee-jerk comments at this Huffington Post link, which were made in response to the fact that on February 17, 2007 somewhere between 70,000 and 150,000 Italians (figures courtesy of the major Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera) demonstrated against the expansion/extension of an American military base in the Italian city of Vicenza. Comments like, “You have to wonder how many of these giabonis have even heard of Mussolini or Hitler.” Or, “Worth checking is the defense costs percentage to GNP in western European nations. Yes, it is low and the reason is American military presence…Personally, I’d like to see us pull out completely and allow them to wallow in their socialist mire. Eventually, they’ll be knocking on our door, hat in hand.
“Such comments, while they represent a minority view at progressive sites such as Huffington Post (HuffPo is not responsible for these comments and is to be lauded for highlighting this story on the front page of its web site), nevertheless do reflect widespread American sentiment and ignorance, as if the people of Vicenza and Italy do not pay a significant share for the costs of our bases on Italian soil, as if the problem is that they and the rest of our allies spend too little on defense rather than that
we spend too much, as if the Italians have forgotten their first-hand experience with empire-building, fascism and militarism, or as if the Vicentini themselves might not have some very good practical reasons to oppose this particular base in their city.
Technorati Tags: No Peace or Justice: America’s plans to Expand a US Military Base in Vicenza, Italy
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