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Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia Paperback – January 23, 2011
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The American military base on the island of Diego Garcia is one of the most strategically important and secretive U.S. military installations outside the United States. Located near the remote center of the Indian Ocean and accessible only by military transport, the little-known base has been instrumental in American military operations from the Cold War to the war on terror and may house a top-secret CIA prison where terror suspects are interrogated and tortured. But Diego Garcia harbors another dirty secret, one that has been kept from most of the world--until now.
Island of Shame is the first major book to reveal the shocking truth of how the United States conspired with Britain to forcibly expel Diego Garcia's indigenous people--the Chagossians--and deport them to slums in Mauritius and the Seychelles, where most live in dire poverty to this day. Drawing on interviews with Washington insiders, military strategists, and exiled islanders, as well as hundreds of declassified documents, David Vine exposes the secret history of Diego Garcia. He chronicles the Chagossians' dramatic, unfolding story as they struggle to survive in exile and fight to return to their homeland. Tracing U.S. foreign policy from the Cold War to the war on terror, Vine shows how the United States has forged a new and pervasive kind of empire that is quietly dominating the planet with hundreds of overseas military bases.
Island of Shame is an unforgettable exposé of the human costs of empire and a must-read for anyone concerned about U.S. foreign policy and its consequences. The author will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Chagossians.
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPrinceton University Press
- Publication dateJanuary 23, 2011
- Dimensions6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-100691149836
- ISBN-13978-0691149837
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"This angry and angering book is well researched, compelling, and valuable to understanding and emerging US 'empire.'" ― Choice
"For Vine imperialism, military prerogative and racism have all combined to deny a people a home simply because they were in the way. His succinct style and controlled outrage make for a damning indictment."---Phil Chamberlain, Tribune
"Island of Shame is not just a gut-wrenching account of how a tropical paradise of powder-white beaches and palm fronds was turned into a massive launch pad for America's military expansionist programme. A large chunk of the book is devoted to how the Chagossians came to build their complex but happy society in the islands and the resulting tragedy of their displacement. Above all, Vine is a top flight researcher. . . . We owe Vine a great debt for shining his light on this island of horrors."---Latha Jishnu, Business Standard
"David Vine's story of the Chagossians is an exemplary piece of both socially embedded reportage and investigative journalism, despite a tendency to indulge in the self-conscious idiom of academic ethnography and reflexive criticism of US 'imperialism.' At heart, however, he speaks truth to power. Power, though, is not listening."---Colin Murphy, Irish Times
"David Vine . . . has rendered high service by writing a thoroughly documented expose of the crime, which the world has ignored because one of its perpetrators is a superpower, the U.S., and its accomplice, the U.K."---A. G. Noorani, Frontline
"Vine's important and timely book sheds welcome light on this dark chapter of U.S. military history, questioning the way our military operates and its impact on civilian populations."---Katherine McCaffrey, American Anthropologist
Review
"The sorry tale of Diego Garcia―a saga of duplicity and collusion involving countries and politicians who should have known better―is impeccably and thrillingly told by David Vine, in a book that should be required reading for defense and human-rights officials in the new American administration. Vine can be justly proud of his tireless efforts to bring justice to a forgotten corner of the tropical world."―Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman
"Island of Shame illuminates the interior workings of the American empire as it penetrated and shattered the lives of the people of the tiny island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. David Vine turns his anthropological lenses not only on the victims, the people who were expelled to make room for a military base, but on the perpetrators as well, the American officials who oversaw the tragedy."―Frances Fox Piven, author of Challenging Authority
"This is a very good, original book on an important and intellectually challenging subject―the ruthlessness and hypocrisy of the American government in its forced expulsion of an indigenous people in order to build the supersecret military base at Diego Garcia. Vine has done a brilliant job of reconstructing the history of Diego Garcia and America's interest in it."―Chalmers Johnson, author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republicv1 "The story of the U.S. base on Diego Garcia, and the cruel displacement of the island's people, has long been hidden from the American public. We owe a debt to David Vine for revealing it to the larger public."―Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
"Provocative. This book is the first significant look at how the Chagossians' fate has been tied to the needs of empire. Vine convincingly connects the U.S. military's relocation of the Chagossians with a larger historic program of military imperialism and prolonged efforts to establish strategic bases in key geographical locations around the globe. This is a story that will find a wide audience."―David H. Price, author of Threatening Anthropology
From the Back Cover
"Until I read this book, why had I heard almost nothing about the Chagossians? Their forced relocation from Diego Garcia is a disgraceful violation of human rights that should be far better known. I hope that David Vine's painstakingly researched account is widely read, and that it makes its readers furious."--Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
"The sorry tale of Diego Garcia--a saga of duplicity and collusion involving countries and politicians who should have known better--is impeccably and thrillingly told by David Vine, in a book that should be required reading for defense and human-rights officials in the new American administration. Vine can be justly proud of his tireless efforts to bring justice to a forgotten corner of the tropical world."--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman
"Island of Shame illuminates the interior workings of the American empire as it penetrated and shattered the lives of the people of the tiny island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. David Vine turns his anthropological lenses not only on the victims, the people who were expelled to make room for a military base, but on the perpetrators as well, the American officials who oversaw the tragedy."--Frances Fox Piven, author of Challenging Authority
"This is a very good, original book on an important and intellectually challenging subject--the ruthlessness and hypocrisy of the American government in its forced expulsion of an indigenous people in order to build the supersecret military base at Diego Garcia. Vine has done a brilliant job of reconstructing the history of Diego Garcia and America's interest in it."--Chalmers Johnson, author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republicv1 "The story of the U.S. base on Diego Garcia, and the cruel displacement of the island's people, has long been hidden from the American public. We owe a debt to David Vine for revealing it to the larger public."--Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
"Provocative. This book is the first significant look at how the Chagossians' fate has been tied to the needs of empire. Vine convincingly connects the U.S. military's relocation of the Chagossians with a larger historic program of military imperialism and prolonged efforts to establish strategic bases in key geographical locations around the globe. This is a story that will find a wide audience."--David H. Price, author of Threatening Anthropology
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Princeton University Press; Revised edition (January 23, 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0691149836
- ISBN-13 : 978-0691149837
- Item Weight : 15.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #906,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #663 in India History
- #1,133 in Asian Politics
- #3,532 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

David Vine is Professor of political anthropology at American University in Washington, DC. David’s newest book, "The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State," just launched with the University of California Press. "The United States of War" is the third in a trilogy of books about U.S. wars and struggles to make the United States and the world less violent and more peaceful. The other books in the trilogy are "Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia" and "Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World."
David’s other writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Politico, Mother Jones, Boston Globe, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. With the Network for Concerned Anthropologists, David has helped write and compile two books: "The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society" and "Militarization: A Reader." David is honored to be a board member of the Costs of War Project and a co-founder of the Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition (OBRACC). He is a contributor to TomDispatch.com and Foreign Policy in Focus.
As a believer in the importance of public education systems (apologies to American University), David is proud to have received his PhD and MA degrees from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. There, David developed an approach to a holistic anthropology that attempts to combine the best of anthropology, history, political science, economics, sociology, and psychology.
All royalties from David’s books and all speaker honoraria are donated to the exiled Chagossian people and to non-profit organizations serving veterans and other victims of war. David feels at home in many places but has lived for much of his life in New York City, Oakland, and the Washington, DC area, where he was briefly a dancing waiter.
See davidvine.net and basenation.us for more information.
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Like Pilger, Vine gets up close and personal with some of the deported Chagossians, explains the caste system at play in their new "home", and makes no bones about displaying sympathy for their plight. Likewise, he does a thorough job examining the development of the U.S. government's Strategic Island Concept, and fully chronicles the interplay between Washington and London in formulating the coverup of the handoff of Diego that persisted for decades. And the Epilogue poignantly demonstrates how geopolitical decisions, once made, can pose enduring moral tribulations for those who become cogs in the public policy machine.
Despite this book's painstaking research on a subject of moral significance, Vine's final chapter on the creation of a "Humanpolitik" descends into a broad-based polemic against military installations and American "empire", with precious little analysis of the pros and cons of the Strategic Island Concept and the use of American beach heads (although his discussion of the Bikinians is directly on-point). Tempering the emotions of this laudable work might have taken the wind out of Vine's sails, but the final chapter of his book, as written, also seems too big a subject to cover seriously in a mere 17 pages.
Despite this shortcoming, "Island of Shame" is well worth reading, slowly and carefully. It expands on John Pilger's admirable work, provides yet another illustration of America's far-reaching hand of power (captured magnificently in Stephen Kinzer's "Overthrow"), and should keep us ever-alert to the actions of government - any government.
Postscript: Soon after the release of this book, the current U.S. Administration released a small group of Chinese Muslims no longer deemed to be "enemy combatants" from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Bermuda. The British Government protested publicly, stating categorically that they had never been consulted by Washington on the matter. One must ask: despite the legitimacy of the release of these individuals, is this another example of London dancing to Washington's tune and engaging in "plausible deniability"?
I applaud Mr. Vine's work on the inhabitants of this island, the Chagosians. Too often, such displacement has been associated with ancient empires, but to hear of this occurring in the twentieth century should make us all pay more attention to the world around us.
I particularly appreciated the extensive research. Wow, packed with so many examples, intertwining impressions and interpretations of this complex web ... fantastic. This is a great edition to anyone's history collection, or advanced studies in colonial policies.
Top reviews from other countries
Here is more discourse about the Chagossians (wikipedia)
Diplomatic cable signed by D.A. Greenhill, dated August 24, 1966, stating "Unfortunately along with the birds go some few Tarzans or Man Fridays."
The WikiLeaks cables revealed diplomatic cables between the U.S. and U.K. about the Chagossians.[18] A cable written by D.A. Greenhill on August 24, 1966 to a U.S. State Department official refers to the Chagossians as "some few Tarzans or Man Fridays."[19]
Similar language appears in a 2009 U.S. State Department cable (09LONDON1156), which offered a description of the U.K. government's views about the effect of the Marine Protection Act:
However, Roberts stated that, according to the HGM's current thinking on a reserve, there would be “no human footprints” or “Man Fridays” on the BIOT’s uninhabited islands. He asserted that establishing a marine park would, in effect, put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents.[13]
2012 Internet Petition to President Obama
On 5 March 2012, an international petition was launched on We the People section of the whitehouse.gov website in order to ask the White House in the United States to consider the Chagos case.
The petition read as follows:
The U.S. Government Must Redress Wrongs Against the Chagossians
For generations, the Chagossians lived on the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. But in the 1960s, the U.S. and U.K. governments expelled the Chagossians from their homes to allow the United States to build a military base on Diego Garcia. Facing social, cultural, and economic despair, the Chagossians now live as a marginalized community in Mauritius and Seychelles and have not been allowed to return home. The recent passing of the oldest member of the exiled population underscores the urgent need to improve the human rights of the Chagossians. We cannot let others die without the opportunity to return home and obtain redress. The United States should provide relief to the Chagossians in the form of resettlement to the outer Chagos islands, employment, and compensation.[20]
On 4 April 2012, the sufficient number of 25,000 signatures was met to require a response from the Office of the President under its then-current policy. An undated response was posted on the White House petition web site by the United States Department of State, in the name of Michael Posner (Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor), Philip Gordon (Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs) and Andrew J. Shapiro (Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs). The response read as follows:
Thank you for your petition regarding the former inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago. The U.S. recognizes the British Indian Ocean Territories, including the Chagos Archipelago, as the sovereign territory of the United Kingdom. The United States appreciates the difficulties intrinsic to the issues raised by the Chagossian community.
In the decades following the resettlement of Chagossians in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United Kingdom has taken numerous steps to compensate former inhabitants for the hardships they endured, including cash payments and eligibility for British citizenship. The opportunity to become a British citizen has been accepted by approximately 1,000 individuals now living in the United Kingdom. Today, the United States understands that the United Kingdom remains actively engaged with the Chagossian community. Senior officials from the United Kingdom continue to meet with Chagossian leaders; community trips to the Chagos Archipelago are organized and paid for by the United Kingdom; and the United Kingdom provides support for community projects within the United Kingdom and Mauritius, to include a resource center in Mauritius. The United States supports these efforts and the United Kingdom’s continued engagement with the Chagossian Community.
Thank you for taking the time to raise this important issue with us." [20]
2013 Internet petition to the UK Government
On the 16th of March 2013, an internet petition was launched in the UK from the HM Government e-petitions website in the UK. This was written in order to pressure the UK Government to rethink its past actions in light of the fact that the lease on the Chagos Islands is scheduled to run out in December 2014.
The petition is as follows:[21]
Return the Chagos islanders to the Chagos Archipelago
The Chagos islanders were forcibly evicted from the Chagos Archipelago in 1973. This eviction was to pave way for a US military base which would be rented by the UK Government to the US for a £14 million discounted price on the Polaris missiles. The Chagossians were relocated to the Seychelles and Mauritius, where they have lived ever since. In 2006, the Islanders won a High Court ruling which should allow them to return to the Islands. But since then, the Government has prevented their return by creating a marine park to protect the wildlife of the area and to also stop the Chagossians from fishing in the waters. I ask that the Government rethink their policy towards the Chagossians who had been living in the islands for hundreds of years, and allow the Islanders to return to their rightful home.
How can a government that was prepared to go to war over the Falklands have simultaneously stolen a small group of Islands from it's inhabitants and given it to the Americans without so much as a guarantee for the former natives that they could enjoy British citizenship and have rights to stay in the UK?
I think that there is something about the geophysical location that makes it imperative for the American Military to be there but what that is - goodness only knows.
A thought provoking book, well written and well researched.


