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Indian Ocean Isle,Diego Garcia&US Ethnic Cleansing

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Sunday, August 01, 2004

The Secret That the Government Kept for 30 Years

By Rosemarie Jackowski

 

Currently the United States has so many military bases around the

world that it is almost impossible to get an accurate count of the

exact number. Author Chalmers Johnson states that the U.S. has 6,000

bases in 130 different countries. The history of the acquisition of

many of these bases shows a clandestine, nefarious, and cruel

attitude toward the people who originally occupied the locations

where the bases now are. The official word used by the Pentagon to

describe bases in other countries is "Footprint." What could be more

arrogant than one country putting its footprint on another sovereign

nation?

 

The history of the U.S. base on Diego Garcia is of special interest

now. The base was built by Halliburton and commissioned on March 20,

1973. Exactly 30 years later, on March 20, 2003, the Shock and Awe

bombing campaign was launched from Diego Garcia. This base has been a

recent topic of discussion in the British House of Commons. The

people who inhabited Diego Garcia, until the United States forced

them to leave, are now seeking justice. Court documents reveal that a

policy of ethnic cleansing by the U.S. government has continued for

over 30 years.

 

The following are quotes from a CBS 60 Minutes special on Diego

Garcia:

 

 

"Total evacuation. They [the U.S.] wanted no indigenous people

there."

 

 

"[T]hey weren't allowed to take anything with them except a suitcase

of their clothes..."

 

 

"The people of Diego Garcia say they left paradise and landed in hell

when they were dumped in the urban slums of Mauritius..."

 

 

"No one helped them resettle or pay for the homes they lost. They

were forced to become squatters in a foreign land. Jeannette Alexis'

family was one of the last to leave: `My father was told that we had

to leave the island because the Americans were moving in and it

wasn't safe to remain on the island anymore.'"

 

 

"officials ordered their pets to be exterminated. They were gassed

with exhaust fumes from American military vehicles.

 

 

"And for the next 30 years, the world never knew what happened to

Diego Garcia's original people.

 

 

"No outsiders are allowed onto Diego Garcia, so this secret stayed

hidden until one of the exiled islanders, Olivier Bancoult, started

organizing his community. So three years ago, Olivier traveled to

London to take the British government to court. His big break came

when he and his lawyer, Richard Gifford, found secret documents that

had recently been declassified that described the agreement between

the United States and British governments to build the base on Diego

Garcia. These British documents reveal that colonial officials

thought no one would notice if they deported the islanders. Another

British document confirms that `evicting the people and leaving the

island to the seagulls' was done at the request of the United States.

It reads: `The United States Government will require the removal of

the entire population of the atoll by July.' Uncovering the paper

trail brought Gifford and Bancoult a stunning victory. Britain's

highest court ruled that deporting Diego Garcia's native population

was illegal. So last August, the islanders appealed directly to

President Bush. Olivier Bancoult, Jeannette Alexis and the rest of

the islanders say they will never give up. Now they are suing both

the U.S. and British governments for compensation and the right to

return..."

 

The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution sets forth the principle

of fair compensation in eminent domain cases. It could be argued that

the Diego Garcia case is not covered by the U.S. Constitution because

Diego Garcia is not part of the U.S. That very argument would make

the case for reparations because that is precisely the point. Diego

Garcia is not a part of the U.S. and therefore the U.S. government

never had any rights of ownership there. The belligerent occupation

of Diego Garcia by the U.S. has been a violation of fundamental

principles as laid out in the U.S. Constitution, a violation of

international law, a violation of U.S. treaties, and a violation of

human rights.

 

Does the secret history of the United States in Diego Garcia show

that U.S. foreign policy is based on the belief that some people are

inferior? Is this a racist policy? Or is it just that human rights

will always be secondary to the desires of the U.S. military? The

former inhabitants of Diego Garcia want the freedom to occupy their

own country. This freedom has been taken away by the U.S.

 

Do not look for the facts of this clandestine operation in any U.S.

history textbook. Our government has been masterful at keeping the

secret for 30 years. Some documents were declassified and then found

in 1999 only because of a judicial process in Britain. (Now

additional information is available on CBS News's website.

Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reported on this story for CBS.)

 

Thus far, the U.S. has made no apology, has paid no reparations, and

has permitted no judicial remedy. Will the government of the U.S.

ever allow the people of Diego Garcia to return to their homeland?

Will the people of the United States join with others around the

world and work toward the immediate closing of the base at Diego

Garcia? Will the U.S. government clean up the hazardous materials on

the base, and pay reparations to all of the original inhabitants?

Will a filmmaker ever produce a documentary of this, one of the

greatest stories of our time? Will lawyers in the U.S. answer the

call and write amicus briefs, so that justice, which has been delayed

for so long, will now be possible? Will a team of international

lawyers ever assemble, and bring this case to the World Court? After

more than 30 years, it is now time to let the people of Diego Garcia

go home.

 

 

 

----

----------

 

 

Rosemarie Jackowski lives in Bennington, Vt. She was arrrested in a

peaceful protest against the U.S. invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003

and is currently awaiting trial with the possibility of a prison

sentence. She can be reached at dissent.

 

 

 

 

 

Diego Garcia: Exiles Still Barred

 

June 13, 2003

 

 

 

60 Minutes: Diego Rivera

 

 

The military base employs several thousand civilians but bars anyone

who used to live on the island from working there. (Photo: CBS)

 

 

 

"I have a great sympathy for them. I think the British are probably

legally responsible for it. Morally, the U.S. certainly has an

interest in seeing that things are made right for the islanders." Dan

Urish

 

 

The Indian Ocean atoll of Diego Garcia is currently a U.S. base for B-

52 bombers and other military weapons. (Photo: CBS)

 

 

 

(CBS) Four decades ago, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were

racing to get footholds in this region, the U.S. discovered Diego

Garcia, a coral island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

 

The Americans had asked the British, their longtime allies, who still

had colonies in the region, to find an uninhabited island for their

base.

 

There was just one problem -- there were inhabitants on Diego Garcia

and they have been living there for more than 200 years.

Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports.

 

But the British didn't see that as a problem. They simply moved all

the inhabitants 1,200 miles away to other tropical islands, Mauritius

and the Seychelles.

 

Back then when the island was a British colony, Marcel Moulinie

managed the coconut plantation. He was ordered to ship the people

out.

 

"Total evacuation. They wanted no indigenous people there," says

Moulinie.

 

"When the final time came and the ships were chartered, they weren't

allowed to take anything with them except a suitcase of their

clothes. The ships were small and they could take nothing else, no

furniture, nothing."

 

The people of Diego Garcia say they left paradise and landed in hell

when they were dumped here in the urban slums of Mauritius. They had

brought no possessions and as islanders who had lived off fishing and

farming they had no real professional skills.

 

No one helped them resettle or pay for the homes they lost. They were

forced to become squatters in a foreign land.

 

Before the final evacuation, the British had cut off the ships

carrying food and medicine to Diego Garcia.

 

Jeannette Alexis' family was one of the last to leave: "My father was

told that we had to leave the island because the Americans were

moving in and it wasn't safe to remain on the island anymore."

 

The islanders say the other force that got them out was fear when

British officials ordered their pets to be exterminated. They were

gassed with exhaust fumes from American military vehicles.

 

"You can imagine the pressure it put on the population there," says

Alexis.

"We were crying, we were hanging onto our mothers' skirts crying,

because although we were very young we understood that we were

leaving something very valuable behind, and that was our home."

 

And for the next 30 years, the world never knew what happened to

Diego Garcia's original people.

 

No outsiders are allowed onto Diego Garcia, so this secret stayed

hidden until one of the exiled islanders, Olivier Bancoult, started

organizing his community.

 

Bancoult was angry by the years of misery his people were forced to

endure. Three of his own brothers drank themselves to death,

dispirited by their poverty and unemployment. And one sister was so

homesick she committed suicide.

 

"That's very sad, that's why I will never give up," says

Bancoult. "All the difficulty is because of U.S. and UK, they turned

peoples' life into a nightmare."

 

So three years ago, Olivier traveled to London to take the British

government to court. His big break came when he and his lawyer,

Richard Gifford, found secret documents that had recently been

declassified that described the agreement between the United States

and British governments to build the base on Diego Garcia.

 

"Here we have the legal expert in the foreign office, in which he's

got a paragraph headed, maintaining the fiction," says Gifford,

referring to the fiction that Diego Garcia had no native people.

 

These British documents reveal that colonial officials thought no one

would notice if they deported the islanders.

 

"I find it rather shameful, yes," says Gifford. "Here we have an

interesting memorandum of the British Government: There will be no

indigenous population except seagulls."

 

Another British document confirms that "evicting the people and

leaving the island to the seagulls" was done at the request of the

United States. It reads: "The United States Government will require

the removal of the entire population of the atoll by July."

 

"And the British were only too happy to oblige," says Gifford.

 

What did the British get in return for providing the Americans a

population-free island? Polaris missiles for their submarines. The

U.S. reduced the price by $14 million dollars, or $5 million British

pounds.

 

"So five million pounds was a massive incentive compared with a very

modest conscience problem," says Gifford.

 

Uncovering the paper trail brought Gifford and Bancoult a stunning

victory. Britain's highest court ruled that deporting Diego Garcia's

native population was illegal.

 

But the euphoria didn't last long because the court didn't propose a

remedy -- neither money nor what the people wanted most - to return

home and have the right to earn a living on the base.

 

"The position of the islanders is that they never objected to the

U.S. base on Diego, but the islanders are extremely bitter that they

are denied employment on the base. Precisely because they come from

there," says Gifford.

 

The base currently employs several thousand civilian workers from

other countries like the Philippines - and they don't want visitors.

When the islanders asked to visit their family graves, they were told

from the British government that the U.S. had to grand permission.

 

So last August, the islanders appealed directly to President Bush.

The Bush administration, however, said it was Britain's

call: "Because of the vital role the facility plays in the global war

on terrorism, British authorities have denied permission to visit

Diego Garcia. We concur and support the decision."

 

Caseem Uteem, the former president of Mauritius, had written the

letter to President Bush on behalf of the islanders. He believes that

both sides are passing the buck.

 

"That's what they're doing," says Uteem. "I think it is not only

inhuman but illegal. They should never have expelled them from their

land."

 

Neither the British nor the U.S. governments would talk to 60 Minutes

about the issue, but the former commander of the base on Diego Garcia

spoke to Amanpour.

 

"I have a great sympathy for them," says Dan Urish. "I think the

British are probably legally responsible for it. Morally, the U.S.

certainly has an interest in seeing that things are made right for

the islanders."

 

Until that happens, Olivier Bancoult, Jeannette Alexis and the rest

of the islanders say they will never give up. Now they are suing both

the U.S. and British Governments for compensation and the right to

return.

 

"It's an important base, I agree, but at the same time they should

have realized that people are also important," says Alexis.

 

"The Americans and the British always talk about the champions of

human rights. What they did to us they should rectify, they should

look after us. You know, they should do what they preach."

 

 

© MMIII, CBS Worldwide Inc. .

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