Le Pentagone comme propriétaire terrien

L ‘étude systémique et détaillé de tous les aspects de la puissance du Pentagone constitue un exercice sans fin. L’excellent site http://www.tomdispatch.com en a fait l’une de ses tâches favorites. En voici un aspect de plus.

Effectivement, ce qui est intéressant dans le cas du Pentagone, ce sont les aspects inattendus, ou bien peu connus, de cette puissance. Dans cet article en date du 12 juillet, Tom Engelhardt aborde l’aspect du “Pentagone, propriétaire terrien”, en cédant la plume à Nick Turse, lequel nous parle de la “Planète Pentagone”. Il est intéressant d’apprendre que le Pentagone contrôle 20% de l’île japonaise d’Okinawa et 25% de l’île de Guam, qu’il contrôle 26 millions d’acres aux USA et 711.000 acres en-dehors des USA (un acre, ou un arpent : un demi-hectare).

«In 2003, Forbes magazine revealed that media mogul Ted Turner was America's top land baron — with a total of 1.8 million acres across the U.S. The nation's ten largest landowners, Forbes reported, “own 10.6 million acres, or one out of every 217 acres in the country.” Impressive as this total was, the Pentagon puts Turner and the entire pack of mega-landlords to shame with over 29 million acres in U.S. landholdings. Abroad, the Pentagon's “footprint” is also that of a giant. For example, the Department of Defense controls 20% of the Japanese island of Okinawa and, according to Stars and Stripes, “owns about 25 percent of Guam.” Mere land ownership, however, is just the tip of the iceberg.

»In his 2004 book, The Sorrows of Empire, Chalmers Johnson opened the world's eyes to the size of the Pentagon's global footprint, noting that the Department of Defense (DoD) was deploying nearly 255,000 military personnel at 725 bases in 38 countries. Since then, the total number of overseas bases has increased to at least 766 and, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service, may actually be as high as 850. Still, even these numbers don't begin to capture the global sprawl of the organization that unabashedly refers to itself as ''one of the world's largest ‘landlords.’”

»The DoD's “real property portfolio,” according to 2006 figures, consists of a total of 3,731 sites. Over 20% of these sites are located on more than 711,000 acres outside of the U.S. and its territories. Yet even these numbers turn out to be a drastic undercount. For example, while a 2005 Pentagon report listed U.S. military sites from Antigua and Hong Kong to Kenya and Peru, some countries with significant numbers of U.S. bases go entirely unmentioned — Afghanistan and Iraq, for example.

»In Iraq, alone, in mid-2005, U.S. forces were deployed at some 106 bases, from the massive Camp Victory, headquarters of the U.S. high command, to small 500-troop outposts in the country's hinterlands. None of them made the Pentagon's list. Nor was there any mention of bases in Jordan on that list — or in the 2001-2005 reports either. Yet that nation, as military analyst William Arkin has pointed out, allowed the garrisoning of 5,000 U.S. troops at various bases around the country during the build-up to the war in Iraq. In addition, some 76 nations have given the U.S. military access to airports and airfields -- in addition to who knows where else that the Pentagon forgot to acknowledge or considers inappropriate for inclusion in its list.

»Even without Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the more than 20 other nations that, Arkin noted in early 2004, were “secretly or quietly providing bases and facilities,” the available statistics do offer a window into a bloated organization bent on setting up franchises across the globe. According to 2005 documents, the Pentagon acknowledges 39 nations with at least one U.S. base, stations personnel in over 140 countries around the world, and boasts a physical plant of at least 571,900 facilities, though some Pentagon figures show 587,000 “buildings and structures.” Of these, 466,599 are located in the United States or its territories. In fact, the Department of Defense owns or leases more than 75% of all federal buildings in the U.S.

»According to 2006 figures, the Army controls the lion's share of DoD land (52%), with the Air Force coming in second (33%), the Marine Corps (8%) and the Navy (7 %) bringing up the rear. The Army is also tops in total number of sites (1,742) and total number of installations (1,659). But when it comes to “large installations,” those whose value tops $1,584 billion, the Army is trumped by the Air Force, which boasts 43 mega-bases compared to the Army's 39. The Navy and Marines possess only 29 and 10, respectively. What the Navy lacks in big bases of its own, however, it more than makes up for in borrowed foreign naval bases and ports — some 251 across the globe.»

Mis en ligne le 12 juillet 2007 à 09H46