After reading the blips on Diego Garcia, and then watching the documentary in class I was astonished by the difference between the two sources. On one hand it's business as usual from the U.S. and British governments. On the other, lives have been mercilessly ruined and their history has been covered up. I know that it should not come to a surprise anymore seeing some of the atrocities taking place in order to police the world, after all, looking from the perspective of the British and U.S. government involvement in the situation it makes much more sense to maintain an extremely strategic base than to please a handful of colored British subjects (I find it hard to call them citizens because they have never been treated like them by their government). The scary thing about this situation is that neither government can coverup what happened to the islanders anymore because the truth has been exposed in the British court system; however, they are able to treat the matter like a 'ping-pong match' and keep pressure off of each other from actually doing something. Sadly, I never see these people winning the fight and returning to their native island. Something that should be so easy to accomplish.
On an entirely different note I wanted to make a point of thanking our Veterans on this day. Having a militarization blog, I thought this would be a fitting place to start. Despite all the criticism we lay on military leadership, politicians, and corporations that are involved in the militarization of daily life, I believe it is important to make a distinction for those that have served our country honorably. Many people have made extremely large sacrifices for this country. Despite how popular or legitimate their mission was, they still went out there and performed their orders for what they believed would benefit all of us, not just themselves. As veterans return from Iraq, we should hold them in our highest regards. Many of these people are some of our own peers, and they will be living the rest of their lives alongside us when they return, dealing with memories that we as students cannot even comprehend. Remember that they did not get us into this war, but they were the ones who stood up to the call when their country asked that of them.
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I too would be very surprised if the former residents of Diego Garcia ever receive the justice that they seek. A token apology or inadequate monetary compensation is much more likely. The British and American governments simply see the needs of realpolitik and global military outreach as being significantly more important than the human rights of a few hundred islanders. Though this is unfortunate, I don't foresee any effectual change in military policy any time soon. The same would go for other foreign bases such as those in Okinawa. These people simply lack the political influence to bring about change on their own.
Good point on the troops as well. It is important to remember that they don't make the policies we may disagree with, and overwhelmingly make the decision to serve for the right reasons.
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