What are they and why they are there.
Military bases are sites used by the armed forces to deposit weapons, vehicles, aircraft, men, useful radar antennas to the control of air space to train the troops and allow them to stay. The areas occupied by bases are called "military slavery" because they are parts of territory completely subservient to the armed forces. In these areas, no citizen has the opportunity to construct buildings or agricultural land use. No laws And No. 898 of 24.12.1976 104 of 02.05.1990 may be paid a cash compensation to all those who have enslaved property in the area, (where the property includes agricultural land or a building) because those areas are unusable once transferred to the armed forces.
bases may have extensions and different purposes. There are bases that consist of "just" in ammunition dumps, and others that have radar equipment for the control of the skies, others are remote communication stations. There are great bases that extend for tens and tens of hectares and where weapons are stored, military vehicles, planes, troops, and have a runway for takeoff and landing aircraft, and there are other ships and submarines, which therefore support the activities of the Navy.
In Italy there are many military bases: some are Italian and are used exclusively by the Italian armed forces, but by virtue of secret agreements implemented after the war with the U.S., there are many others belonging to NATO and only used by U.S. armed forces.
official report from the Pentagon, "Base Structure Report 2005 "shows that the U.S. armed forces have 1,614 buildings in our country, with an area of \u200b\u200b892 thousand square meters, and 1,190 buildings have to rent, with an area of \u200b\u200b886 000 m2. Personnel assigned to this basis amounted to 14,000 military and 5,140 civilians, for a total of about 20 000 people. From a "survey" done by the magazine "Charter" in 2003 that U.S. military installations in Italy are 113.
The full list of these bases, installations is available on the web
at: www.carta.org/rivista/settimanale/2003/06/06elencobasi.htm
( in the figure on the left: the relocation of U.S. bases in Italy and NATO-Source: magazine "Charter" - www.carta.org )
areas occupied by U.S. military bases have extra-territoriality, and no Italian (or the judiciary or the parliament, nor journalists, nor the police) have the right and opportunity to enter it. They can not see what is inside them and what should happen.
They enjoy extraterritoriality also embassies around the world, but it is easy to see that a building that houses an embassy is very different compared to a large area of \u200b\u200bland
several acres full of weapons ...
For the latter is, in practice micro-states, areas that are not Italian, how can it be to San Marino or the Vatican City. The difference is that in San Marino and San Pietro there are no arsenals filled with bombs and tanks.
The fact that this foundation will enjoy extraterritoriality allows the armed forces is another thing: they can initiate combat operations at any time without asking permission from the State of the Republic Italian (in the constitution which, remember, Article 11 reads: "Italy rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of settling international disputes ..."). Our area is then simply a launching pad.
The U.S. bases or more in general of NATO, in Italy, were built largely after the Second World War, during the Cold War between the Soviet bloc and the Atlantic.
were intended to "protect" Italy from a possible expansion of the USSR and allowed the U.S. to certify that troops and military vehicles a few miles from Soviet bloc countries. Italy is just a few miles from the former Yugoslavia, which at that time was under Soviet control, and this has made it an important outpost, an area of \u200b\u200bgreat strategic importance.
The United States has pursued throughout the postwar decades, until the year 1990 (fall of the USSR) a very strong control of Italy (as well as in other Western European nations), to prevent the affirmation of communism .
Recently, after years and years of investigation by Italian magistrates, made quite complicated by false leads and secrets of state, is showed that existed in our country, hidden within the bases of NATO, illegal paramilitary groups that had as purpose to go into action as soon as there was a danger of Soviet invasion of Italy. One of these paramilitary groups was GLAD that the Italian courts have recently considered "subversive organization of the constitutional order." What the judges have pointed out is that these bands did not play only the role of defense "is waiting for the communist enemy," but acted actively in the Italian territory to heavily influence the politics and the election results.
One of the actions on which they had some influence is known as a "strategy of tension" through attacks that caused terrible massacres of civilians whose fault was leaning against left-wing groups, was created a climate of tension, criminalizing the many movements of struggle and the same party Communist, moving from left to right the balance of the election results.
is now proven the close relationship between the bombers (neo-fascist) and secret facilities, including international, including U.S. intelligence does not lacking in several attacks have occurred in the 60-70 years in Italy. U.S. bases had this in mind the role of the hiding place for the paramilitaries, as well as places for training.
Another thing very seriously (because Italy is a republic in which sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it through elections), is that this army hidden in secret U.S. bases located in Italy , could take action even if the Communist victory in the elections. is why the judges have called Gladio training subversive of constitutional order.
[on this subject there is an enormous amount of material, part of which is now conclusively proven and no longer a mere "hypothesis". Would take too long to talk about in this article, but it is important know that library as well as on the Internet there are many documents about]
(photo: December 12, 1969, bomb in Piazza Fontana)
The conclusion of this interlude is, therefore, that thanks to the U.S. bases have been to control Italy during the Cold War.
But today, one wonders, why the U.S. bases are still here, if the Cold War is over sixteen years?
The geopolitical world has evolved a lot since the 90's and still is changing. There are new balance of power among powers, the United States has become the largest military and economic power (increasingly opposed But China, which is growing at enormous rates) and are engaged in what they call "global terror war at" that the global war on terror. The attack the towers of New York on 11 September 2001 (terrible bombing that killed three thousand civilians and on which, however, there are still many things to be clarified, as evidenced by the increasing amount of U.S. citizens after they have expressed great doubts as to the documented official version given by the U.S. government), the U.S. led war in Afghanistan and Iraq, accusing both countries of being bases of Islamic terrorism, and accusing Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction (that turned out to be a false).
It is clear that the real U.S. interest is directed to energy resources present in the Middle East (and this is the real reason for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and of great concern "shown by the Bush administration against another nation rich in oil: Iran).
Just take a look at a geological map or a map showing the location of oil fields, methane, etc., to see how "hot" zones of the planet, the ones where there are conflicts or tensions, are those where the greater the amount of energy resources. And
countries bombed by the U.S. in the war on terrorism, are coincidentally one of the richest oil in the world.
Well, the American bases located in Europe and Italy now have a new role: they serve as an outpost for military actions in the Middle East and Africa, and it is conceivable that they can serve one day for new wars on other fronts, always in the context of "global terror war at."
have already served for the military actions of NATO in Kosovo in 1999 (the planes that bombed Serbia from March 24 to June 9, 1999 took off from military bases raised in Italy, as well as aircraft carriers located in the Adriatic), for U.S. actions in Afghanistan in 2001 and those in Iraq in 1991 and 2003 ... (From Camp Derby, military base near Livorno, left 60% of the ammunition for the first Gulf War, and similar figures were repeated in 2003).
The fact that the U.S. bases in Italy serve as the vanguard for the wars to the south they are fantasies of some of the world peace? No.
What is the role of these bases is evident from the report submitted May 9, 2005 the President and Congress of the United States by the Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structure of the United States, available on the web page
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/obc.pdf
"The global network of U.S. bases - the report states - is the skeleton on which model to the flesh and muscles of our operational capacity, "whose main purpose is to" pursue our interests in the world. " In this context, "the U.S. presence in Europe remains crucial."
Also from official documents show that U.S. bases in Italy and Europe need to "maintain U.S. influence and leadership in NATO: the extent that significant U.S. forces remain in Europe, leadership can be maintained." E 'therefore an official document at the highest level to state explicitly that the U.S. military presence in Europe not only serves to project force in areas of strategic interest, but keep Europe under U.S. leadership.
Geography of the bases.
Here is a description of the largest U.S. bases in Italy.
Aviano. [Pordenone]. It is the largest forward base, nuclear storage and telecommunications hub in Italy USAF [hosts at least three thousand American soldiers and civilians]. In the base are deployed operational forces ready for combat USAF [a group of fighters]. There are also the Sixteenth Air Force and the Group of Thirty U.S. Air Force fighter and a squadron of Marine F-18. It is assumed that the basis for guests, underground bunkers whose construction was authorized by Congress, dozens of nuclear bombs, under a secret agreement and therefore never discussed in parliament (called Stone Ax). These nuclear bombs are only a percentage of 480 nuclear weapons stationed on military bases throughout Europe in the framework of the NATO "nuclear sharing" [see the Greenpeace dossier available on the Web at http://
p2-raw.greenpeace.org/raw/content/italy/ufficiostampa/rapporti/disarmo.pdf ]
Camp Ederle [Vicenza]. NATO headquarters and command Setaf the U.S. Army, which controls the forces American in Italy, Turkey and Greece. On this basis there are the ground combat forces: one airborne battalion, an artillery battalion with nuclear capability, three companies of engineers. Important telecommunications station. The military and American civilians working at Camp Ederle should be about two thousand.
in Vicenza and planned to build a new base in the area of \u200b\u200bthe former Dal Molin airport, they speak of "enlargement" because it would be to support the Ederle base already, but the territory on which it is built is currently no military installations. Against this project hundreds of thousands of Italians are mobilizing In recent months, both for environmental reasons, above all, for political reasons to repudiate the war.
Ghedi [Brescia]. USAF base station, communication and storage of nuclear bombs (one estimate is about 40 devices).
Camp Darby [Pisa]. The Setaf (Southern European Task Force) has here the largest warehouse logistics in the Mediterranean [about 1,400 men and a staggering amount of ammunition, bombs, military]. The base is
closely connected through a network of canals to the nearby port of Livorno, a supply base of naval units stationed in the Mediterranean.
Camp Derby the eighth group to support U.S. Army and is the basis of EU's support for U.S. forces in the south of the Po, in the Mediterranean and North Africa. This is where the parties are on board ships, most of the vehicles and ammunition for Iraq, both the first and the second (and current) Gulf War in Iraq. It is after dark and not yet known movements of U.S. naval vessels in front of the port of Livorno on the evening of April 10, 1991 the ferry Moby Prince crashed into an oil tanker was at anchor, 140 people died that night. The U.S. has never collaborated with the Italians to shed light on the affair, and still there are many things yet to be clarified.
summer instead of 2000, due to the collapse of the ceiling of eight ammunition depots in the base, he created an emergency situation: in twelve days we had to remove remote-controlled robot (due to the hazardous operation) over 100 000 ammunition, with a net explosive weight of 240 tons, without which neither the people nor the civil authorities were informed. To remove an old World War II bomb found in some field other hand, evacuate people from the surrounding area. And if something went wrong? (pictured: the fence around Camp Darby)
Capo Teulada [Cagliari]. Da Capo Teulada, Capo Frasca [Oristano ], Approximately 100 km of coastline, 7,200 hectares of land and more than 70 000 hectares of areas off limits: shooting range for practice flying and naval aviation of the U.S. Sixth Fleet and NATO. Beautiful beaches are devastated during the exercises (exercises in which they used real bullets and bombs).
Between 2003 and 2004, the Sardinian fishermen in the area of \u200b\u200bCapo Teulada, resulted in a series of courageous protest against the continuing practice naval aviation, in violation of the prohibition of navigation. The media, in a shameful way, gave no notice of those protests. Only thanks to the alternative press, the "counter-informa-tion" through free newspapers and radio and television news web could turn. The fishermen go to sea in spite of the categorical prohibition of the American military, which even turned against them a few shots, fortunately fruitless. The fishermen asked him to get back to "their" sea to fish freely. And above all demanded the reclamation of a vast sea area, totally polluted by thousands and thousands of munitions fired during exercises
... In the summer of 2004, some bullets fired from a ship by mistake ended a few meters from the deck of some tourists who were taking the sun on a beach in the area. Luckily there were no consequences.
Naples. Command Security Force Marines. U.S. submarine base. Command U.S. Air Force for the Mediterranean. Port normally used by the U.S. military and civilian units. It is estimated that annually pass through Naples and Livorno about five containers of military equipment.
San Bartolomeo [La Spezia]: Research Centre for submarine warfare. Composed of three structures. First, the SACLANT, a subsidiary of NATO is not mentioned in any map of the Atlantic Alliance. The SACLANT would play unspecified marine research. Then there Maricocesco, an agency that provides spare parts for ships. MARIPERMAN Finally, the Standing Committee for the experiments on materials of war, consisting of five hundred and eleven institutions [artillery, ammunition and missiles, underwater weapons].
Sigonella [Catania]. Main land-based U.S. Navy in the central Mediterranean, logistical support of the Sixth Fleet [about 3,400 troops and American civilians]. In addition to units of the U.S. Navy, is home to several USAF tactical squadrons: helicopters of the type HC-4, F14 Tomcat fighter and A6 Intruder, groups of F-16 and F-111 equipped with nuclear bombs of the type B-43, for more of 100 kilotons each.
The military base at Sigonella in Italy is known for being the scene of a historic event: It was
October 12, 1985: a few days before a commando of Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine had hijacked Over 400 passengers of the Italian ship Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt, demanding the release of some arrested Palestinians. An American passenger was killed. The result of the seizure was made by terrorists, which were taken up on a plane Egyptian directed in Tunisia. During the flight, however, four American fighter planes forced the passenger plane to change course and land on the runway of an American base in Sigonella, Sicily. In fact, the Americans wanted to seize command, but the then prime minister Craxi took a firm stance, "the murder of American tourist took place in Italian territory (on the ship Achille Lauro) and therefore the Palestinians must be processed by the Italian courts, "he said.
The Egyptian plane, standing on the runway of Sigonella, was surrounded by American soldiers in combat gear, but the orders were made to deploy the Italian defense to turn around the Americans, the Italian carabinieri.
were moments of extreme tension, with the risk of a gunfight between two armed forces of allied countries.
Eventually the Americans gave up the encirclement and the hijackers were arrested and handed over to Italian justice. It was one of those rare cases, if not the only one in which Italy held their heads high against the U.S., will not follow his demands .
- Lorenzo Pasqualini-
