David Vine - The United States of War: A Global History of Americas Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State

A brisk, sweeping, and utterly persuasive account of the relationship between foreign bases and the U.S. propensity for war. The case that David Vine makes is irrefutable: The former spawn the latter.

Andrew Bacevich, author of The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory

David Vines The United States of War puts a much needed pin to the balloon of American exceptionalism. An invaluable guide to a country that, long before Orwell came along, said war was peace and interventionism was the highest form of anticolonialism. The United States of War is especially important now, as we try to make sense of a presidential administration that, in the name of so-called isolationism, has left a trail of global destruction in its wake.

Greg Grandin, author of The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America

David Vines newest book connects Fort Lauderdale to Okinawa. It makes me realize I cant make adequate sense of U.S. militarism today if I dont take seriously the history of Native Americans. The book will make us all globally smarter and a lot more curious.

Cynthia Enloe, author of Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics

Like David Vines previous book, Base Nation, his new book provides a clear look at rampant U.S. imperialism as exhibited by U.S. overseas basing at 800 locations across the globe. The United States of War is an agonizing read even if the myth of U.S. exceptionalism is already badly tattered. In short, exceptionalism only applies if one means unique brutality, violence, ruthlessness, unparalleled pursuit of self-interest, and imperialism of the most blatant and degrading sortan exceptionalism that has meant the deaths of millions, the maiming of millions more, and the wandering from state to state of even more millions displaced by war. It is not a book to read curled up by a warm winter fire; rather, its a book that will stir your soul, if you have one left, to action.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, USA (Ret), former chief of staff, U.S. Department of State, and Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary

The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Lawrence Grauman, Jr. Fund.

The California Series in Public Anthropology emphasizes the anthropologists role as an engaged intellectual. It continues anthropologys commitment to being an ethnographic witness, to describing, in human terms, how life is lived beyond the borders of many readers experiences. But it also adds a commitment, through ethnography, to reframing the terms of public debatetransforming received, accepted understandings of social issues with new insights, new framings.

Series Editor: Robert Borofsky (Hawaii Pacific University)

Contributing Editors: Philippe Bourgois (UCLA), Paul Farmer (Partners in Health), Alex Hinton (Rutgers University), Carolyn Nordstrom (University of Notre Dame), and Nancy Scheper-Hughes (UC Berkeley)

University of California Press Editor: Naomi Schneider

THE UNITED STATES OF WAR

A GLOBAL HISTORY OF AMERICAS ENDLESS CONFLICTS, FROM COLUMBUS TO THE ISLAMIC STATE

DAVID VINE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

The author will donate all proceeds from this books royalties to nonprofit organizations serving victims of war and other forms of violence.

University of California Press

Oakland, California

2020 by David Vine

Maps, except where noted, are by Kelly Martin Design. Earlier versions of some maps first appeared in David Vine, Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2015).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Vine, David, 1974 author.

Title: The United States of war : a global history of Americas endless conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State / David Vine.

Other titles: California series in public anthropology.

Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2020] | Series: California series in public anthropology | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020006465 (print) | LCCN 2020006466 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520300873 (cloth) | ISBN 9780520972070 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : United StatesHistory, Military. | United StatesHistory, MilitarySocial aspects. | United StatesMilitary policyHistory. | United StatesForeign relations. | United StatesHistory.

Classification: LCC E 181 . V 65 2020 (print) | LCC E 181 (ebook) | DDC 355.00973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020006465

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020006466

Manufactured in the United States of America

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To my parents and siblings. I love you dearly and forever.

If we divide reality into two campsthe violent and the nonviolentand stand in one camp while attacking the other, the world will never have peace. We will always blame and condemn those we feel are responsible for wars and social injustice, without recognizing the degree of violence in ourselves. We must work on ourselves and also with those we condemn if we want to have a real impact.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change

CONTENTS

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

PART V

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

MAPS

For ease of comparison maps generally use contemporary borders and, unfortunately, Mercator projections. The dates of conflicts and base creation referenced in the maps are often disputed. Additional details and citations for these maps are available in the most recent version of my Lists of U.S. Military Bases Abroad, available at www.basenation.us/maps.

PREFACE

On that Wednesday night in June, Russell Maddens mother, Peggy Madden Davitt, heard the knock at the door she had dreaded for months. She opened the door and saw a man in full military dress uniform. For a nanosecond Peggy thought there might be good news about her son, who was fighting in Afghanistan. Realizing why the officer was there, she started saying, then crying, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ... Peggy told the man, a U.S. Army chaplain, that he had the wrong house and slammed the door shut.

He knocked again.

No, you have the wrong house! Peggy screamed.

The chaplain knocked again. When Peggy finally opened the door, the chaplain quickly slid his foot between the door and its frame and forced his way inside.

Private First Class Russell Madden was just twenty-nine years old. According to the Army, on June 23, 2010, Russell was killed in Afghanistan when a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG, tore through his vehicles armored hull.