Janet Simmon: Foreign military bases, and resistance to them, are spreading

To The Daily Sun,

I just saw a report about U.S. military bases around the world that astounded me. I learned that the U.S. has bases in 95 countries and is rapidly adding more. The American public wasn't consulted whether we wanted these. The people of the "host" countries were not consulted. In many of these countries the people do not know that the U.S. has nuclear weapons stored there. In some countries, their own government doesn't even know that we have nuclear weapons stored there.

This report was published by World Beyond War on July 14. Readers can view their website to see the surprising maps.

These bases don't win us friends. In many countries military bases occupy stolen Indigenous lands. In all cases they cause massive environmental damage. Military bases heighten tensions and make locations into targets for attack. In many countries this is the only contact with Americans for the people who live there. People who live near military bases have no recourse to the destruction of natural resources and the environmental devastation. The local residents often do not see us as friendly.

We need to halt all new construction of military base infrastructure to re-think their purpose, cost and impact. We also need to reassess our disastrous war-making and instead invest in a livable future.

Janet Simmon

Laconia