No subject

d to the Navy-controlled island of Kahoolawe in Hawaii, where it was equall=
y successful in forcing the Navy to pull out. Kahoolawe had been occupied a=
nd bombed by the U.S. Navy since the outbreak of World War II. Kyle Kajihir=
o=E2=80=99s essay =E2=80=9CResisting Militarization in Hawaii,=E2=80=9D tou=
ches on this and other military issues in Hawaii. Kajihiro is the American =
Friends Service Committee=E2=80=99s program director in Hawaii, who since 1=
996 has been active in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. His article is le=
ss a scholarly analysis of the popular protests against the huge military p=
resence in Hawaii than a well-informed, impassioned brief for the rights of=
 the Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiians). Kajihiro also points out that for the=
 first time since World War II, tourism is now a bigger part of the Hawaiia=
n economy than the military installations. His essay is a valuable contribu=
tion to the comparatively small literature on the problems of militarism wi=
thin the United States.=20

The essay by Ayse Gul Altinay and Amy Holmes, =E2=80=9COpposition to the U.=
S. Military Presence in Turkey in the Context of the Iraq War,=E2=80=9D is =
important for three reasons. First, there is very little published on the b=
ases in Turkey; second, Incirlik Air Base on the outskirts of Adana, Turkey=
, is the largest U.S. military facility in a strategically vital NATO ally;=
 and third, the decision on March 1, 2003, of the Turkish National Assembly=
 not to deploy Turkish forces in Iraq nor to allow the United States to use=
 Turkey as an invasion route into Iraq was one of the Bush administration=
=E2=80=99s greatest setbacks. Public opinion polls in January 2003 revealed=
 that 90 percent of Turks opposed U.S. imperialism against Iraq and 83 perc=
ent opposed Turkey=E2=80=99s cooperating with the United States. Nonetheles=
s, major U.S. newspapers either ignored or trivialized Turkey=E2=80=99s opp=
osition to U.S. war plans.=20

Altinay is a professor of anthropology at Sabanci University, Turkey, and t=
he author of =E2=80=9CThe Myth of the Military Nation: Militarism, Gender, =
and Education in Turkey=E2=80=9D (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). Holmes is a do=
ctoral candidate in sociology at the Johns Hopkins University and has writt=
en extensively on American bases in Germany and Turkey.=20

[cid:part2.00070200.07090207 at dccnet.com]<http://www.amazon.com/Bases-Empire=
-Struggle-against-Military/dp/0814752446%3FSubscriptionId%3D0P6YZRHNJFV404X=
JNNG2%26tag%3Dtruthdig-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D16595=
3%26creativeASIN%3D0814752446>=20

The Bases of Empire=20

By Catherine Lutz=20

NYU Press, 356 pages=20

[cid:part3.05030501.00070802 at dccnet.com]<http://www.amazon.com/Bases-Empire=
-Struggle-against-Military/dp/0814752446%3FSubscriptionId%3D0P6YZRHNJFV404X=
JNNG2%26tag%3Dtruthdig-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D16595=
3%26creativeASIN%3D0814752446>=20

Turkey is not an easy place to do research on American bases. Some 41 perce=
nt of bilateral agreements between the U.S. and Turkey between 1947 and 196=
5 were secret. It was not known that the U.S. had stationed missiles on Tur=
kish territory until the U.S. promised to remove them in return for the USS=
R=E2=80=99s withdrawing its missiles from Cuba. Incirlik became even more c=
entral to U.S. strategy after 1974. In that year, Turkey invaded Cyprus and=
 the United States imposed an arms embargo on its ally. As a result, Turkey=
 closed all 27 U.S. bases in the country except for one, Incirlik. As Altin=
ay and Holmes write, =E2=80=9CIt is difficult to overemphasize the importan=
ce of the Incirlik Air Base for U.S. power projection in the Middle East, p=
articularly since the early 1990s; for more than a decade, the entire Iraq =
policy of the United States hinged on Incirlik.=E2=80=9D=20

My choice of the best article in the Lutz volume is Kozue Akibayashi=E2=80=
=99s and Suzuyo Takazato=E2=80=98s =E2=80=9COkinawa: Women=E2=80=99s Strugg=
le for Demilitarization.=E2=80=9D The persecution of the native population =
of the island of Okinawa, Japan=E2=80=99s most southerly and poorest prefec=
ture, by the American occupiers and the Japanese government since at least =
the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 has been told often and is reasonably well kn=
own in mainland Japan and among the U.S. armed forces. Akibayashi and Takaz=
ato expertly retell the essence of the story here, but what makes the artic=
le a standout is their emphasis on the mistreatment of Okinawan women and g=
irls and their theoretically sophisticated conclusions.=20

Akibayashi is a researcher at the Institute for Gender Studies of Ochanomiz=
u University in Tokyo. Takazato is one of the best-known activists in the s=
truggle of Okinawan women to escape the threat of sexual violence by Americ=
an military personnel. She is an elected member of the City Council in Naha=
, the capital of Okinawa, and one of the founders of Okinawa Women Act Agai=
nst Military Violence, which was created in the wake of the gang rape<http:=
//www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4318572.html> on Sept. 4, 1995 of a 12-year-old =
Okinawa schoolgirl by two U.S. Marines and a sailor. The purpose of Takazat=
o=E2=80=99s organization was to prevent a recurrence of attacks by the U.S.=
 military on Okinawan women and to protect the young victim of Sept. 4 from=
 unwanted publicity. The organization subsequently created the Rape Emergen=
cy Intervention Counseling Center in Okinawa, and has worked to end the U.S=
. military occupation of the island chain. Unfortunately, despite heroic ef=
forts to get American military commanders to enforce discipline among their=
 troops and strong representations to the Japanese government to take an in=
terest in the plight of the Okinawans, little has changed. This has led Aki=
bayashi and Takazato to two significant conclusions.=20

(1) =E2=80=9CIntegral elements of misogyny infect military training. =E2=80=
=A6The military is a violence-producing institution to which sexual and gen=
der violence are intrinsic. =E2=80=A6 The essence of military forces is the=
ir pervasive, deep-rooted contempt for women, which can be seen in military=
 training that completely denies femininity and praises hegemonic masculini=
ty.=E2=80=9D=20

(2) =E2=80=9CThe OWAAMV [Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence] movem=
ent illustrates from a gender perspective that =E2=80=98the protected,=E2=
=80=99 who are structurally deprived of political power, are in fact not pr=
otected by the militarized security policies; rather their livelihoods are =
made insecure by these very policies. The movement has also illuminated the=
 fact that =E2=80=98gated=E2=80=99 bases do not confine military violence t=
o within the bases. Those hundred-of-miles-long fences around the bases are=
 there only to assure the readiness of the military and military operations=
 by excluding and even oppressing the people living outside the gated bases=
.=E2=80=9D=20

These two propositions=E2=80=94misogyny in the official education of Americ=
an troops and hypocrisy in describing the benefits to locals of foreign mil=
itary bases=E2=80=94are significant. I believe that they should inform futu=
re research on the American empire around the world to see if they can be v=
erified in many different contexts and to further develop their various imp=
lications. Meanwhile, these erudite essays should cause Americans to reflec=
t on the nature of U.S. imperialism just at the point where it is most prob=
ably starting to decline due to economic constraints and popular exhaustion=
 with the wars and deaths it has caused.=20

Chalmers Johnson is the author of =E2=80=9CBlowback=E2=80=9D (2000), =E2=80=
=9CThe Sorrows of Empire=E2=80=9D (2004), and =E2=80=9CNemesis: The Last Da=
ys of the American Republic=E2=80=9D (2006), and editor of =E2=80=9COkinawa=
: Cold War Island=E2=80=9D (1999).=20