An Airbase in Vicenza: How Italy Became a Launching Pad for the US Military

[stephinrome]

An Airbase in Vicenza: How Italy Became a Launching Pad for the US Military

by Valerio Volpe

The presence of friendly governments in Eastern Europe and in central Asian former Soviet Republics, allured by the prospect of U.S. investments and protection against their Russian neighbor, is helping U.S. militarism in its imperialist expansion eastwards, as pointed out by Elise Hugus's article "U.S. Military Expansion in Eastern Europe", Z Magazine, September 2007.

However, as U.S. tentacles are expanding eastwards, they are, at the same time, tightening their grip on southern Europe: infamous yet probably unknown to the majority of people worldwide, are the latest events concerning Vicenza, 110,000 residents, a small, pleasant town located in the Padanian lowlands, close to world-renowned Venice and the Adriatic sea, in the northeastern part of Italy.

Vicenza's Dal Molin airport has been chosen by the U.S. as the site for a new base, in an area already heavily militarized (including the Ederle base with 6,000 U.S. troops; site Pluto in Longare, where nuclear warheads were stored for twenty years; the Tormeno base; the Torri di Q.lo depots; the housing area in East Vicenza), but nonetheless the perfect location for new missions in the Middle East, thanks to its geographical position and 150 m long runway.

Read the entire article at: http://www.counterpunch.org/volpi10042007.html

Support the people of Vicenza, who are currently getting up every day at the crack o' dawn to stand guard at the entrance to the site of the new base. Seems the first phase of construction, which ironically entails de-mining the land for leftover U.S. bombs from WWII, could start any day. In keeping with the way this entire affair has been conducted, no details on dates of construction or names of the companies that "won" in the bidding process have been made public. So the people are there everyday checking who goes in and out.

See their appeal (in English) for a 3 day mobilization against the new base Dec 14-16. If you have plans to travel to Italy, make Vicenza one of your stops!
http://www.peaceandjustice.it/vicenza-dec-15.php

For more info, see the No Dal Molin web site (mostly in Italian) http://www.nodalmolin.it/ or the Vicenza Dossier on our web site: http://www.peaceandjustice.it/vicenza

Steph

[unhappycamper]

1. They had a little F-16 problem recently:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=259x4854

[stephinrome]

4. Now here's something I just don't get...

...why the hell can't I access stars and stripes? Just because I'm not in the US? Everytime someone refers me to an article on stars and stripes I have to search for it in google and access it from their cache!

Yeah, there was little talk outside the immediate area regarding that crash. Shhhh!

[MADem]

6. Is your ISP blocking it? I could get it from Napoli... nt

[stephinrome]

8. why would my isp block it? were you on a base? n/t

[MADem]

10. Nope--out in town, using a civilian ISP. NT

[WinkyDink]

2. I've been to Vicenza; it's a gold-jewelry center.

http://www.vicenzafiera.it/uk/m-orafe/index.php

[stephinrome]

3. true, but I think most people think of it...

...more as a showcase for renaissance architect Andrea Palladio! :)

Hope you got to see more than the Fiera di Vicenza.

[MADem]

5. Vicenza has been a military town for YEARS.

I don't think the protesters will succeed. First of all, the assertions in that article are false. Dal Molin is not to be used as a 'launching pad.'

There's a vocal group that supports the base, that you aren't hearing about here, because they want the business that the expansion will bring. Prodi has signed off on it already, and he's the lefty they put in to replace the rightie Burlusconi.

Nothing is as simple as it looks at first glance.

There are also a lot of fabrications about what the purpose of the facility will be. They continue to be repeated, despite refutations.

He issued a list of facts about the U.S. proposal, which has been a topic of several articles recently in the Italian media. Helmick spent as much time talking about what the facility would not be used for as he did on what functions the U.S. does envision.

No tanks. No spy planes. No multiple missile launching systems. No use of the airfield to deploy troops. No takeover of Italian jurisdiction.

“No changes, whatsoever, in how we do business at Dal Molin” from what’s currently going on at Caserma Ederle, he said.

What was new? The confirmation that if the U.S. used the facility, the 173rd would be the one to move in, and a few drawings of what some facilities might look like.

http://www.stripesonline.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39529&archive=true


VICENZA, Italy — The U.S. military said Thursday that it does not plan to use Dal Molin airfield as a major staging base to go to war, as suggested in many recent articles in the Italian press.

U.S. officials have said all along that they don’t plan to use the airfield — officially signed off for American use by the Italian government — to ferry troops to and from Vicenza. Aviano Air Base, about 90 miles away, will continue to act as the deployment hub for the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which recently used the air base to deploy to Afghanistan....“It will not be used as a major staging base,” Maj. Gen. Frank Helmick, commander of the Southern European Task Force (Airborne), said Thursday at a news conference with about two dozen Italian journalists.

Helmick said the runway isn’t suitable for such actions. “It’s way too short to have any military aircraft on the ground,” he said.

So why use Dal Molin and not an empty field elsewhere?

“Dal Molin is the nearest military property to this caserma,” he said. And because of legal and logistical reasons, the U.S. wants to operate only in facilities built on land owned by the Italian military.

Those protesters are repeating rebutted information, and have simply jumped the shark. When they tried to ruin the school graduation for the kids of the servicemembers stationed there, they kind of wore out their welcome, even with those who were ambivalent about the issue. Going after kids is a shitty thing to do in Italy, too.

The crowd numbered in the "dozens...":

VICENZA, Italy — They say students who attend Department of Defense Dependents Schools have cultural experiences they would never get in the States.

That was in evidence Sunday, as Vicenza High School senior class members received their diplomas in the oldest indoor amphitheater in the world: Teatro Olimpico.

Outside, dozens of Italians opposed to the American use of the Dal Molin airfield protested, creating another kind of history — the first DODDS graduation to receive such attention.




Almost as many police as protesters...

[stephinrome]

7. Oh my, where to start...

You're quoting Helmick, the commander of the existing base, as proof there are false assertions in the article?! Did you also believe Petraeus? We were told by staff of the Readiness and Military Construction subcommittees at the Senate that the base would be used to help starving children in Africa (I'm not kidding) Should we believe them, too, and halt all the protests? What in the world is your angle, here?

Prodi's not a "leftie," he's the head of the center-left coalition and is much more close to the center than the left. He was elected on a platform that included involving the local people when there were decisions that would affect their territory as well as reviewing military servitude. Neither was respected in the case of Vicenza.

You say there is a "vocal" group that supports the base. How many times have you been to Vicenza in the last year. I've been 8 times and probably spent a total of 2 months there and have never ever seen the supporters of the base. Does that mean they don't exist? Of course not, but the few times they've tried to organize something public it's been a miserable failure. Sure they have a web site and get interviews on the local press, but it's not a wide-spread movement grassroots movement represented by the opposition to the base, who gets 200-300 people at the weekly assemblies. They also just had thousands there in Sept for the week-long No Dal Molin Festival. The last national demo drew over 100,000. It started an hour early (in a country where everything starts late) just because there were so many people! Everyone is talking about Vicenza. It has become a symbol for the entire country of a popular grassroots movement that has united left and right, old and young, borghesi e centri sociali.

And is it surprising that a small minority who will benefit economically from the base are in favor of it? What about the rest of us? Are you not aware that close to 40% of the operating costs of the base are payed by Italian taxpayers (myself included!) as host nation support? Are you not aware that they pay no vat tax on fuel costs? Are you not aware that the Italian taxpayers will also be responsible for all infrastucture outside the base (tangenziale, etc)?

The U.S. military high school graduation ceremony was held at the Teatro Olimpico, renaissanse jewel and symbol of the city. The No Dal Molin movement was oustide with olive branches in silent protest. There were signs that read "Congratulations! Don't choose a military career."

But above all else, the people of Vicenza and Italy simply don't want to play a supporting role in U.S. wars of aggression!

Is that not something to support?

[MADem]

9. Look, I've worked with GOI on infrastructure matters.

The GOI has right of absolute refusal, and they DO refuse if it doesn't meet their needs. They are in the driver's seat when it comes to this use, which is simply an expansion of existing use. The big, bad USA isn't beating up the poor little Italians here--this is a deal that mutually benefits both parties.

I don't have an angle. All I'm saying is that you are barking up the wrong tree. You need to bitch at Prodi, not some light US general way down the food chain.

This facility isn't going to be finished for several years--Bush will be long gone, so you can perhaps worry a bit less about those "US Wars of Aggression" you are so exorcised about. The actual function of the facility is to replace assets elsewhere in Europe that don't serve as well due to age and distance and are part of the return/consolidation process. The slightly larger footprint is more than compensated for by the substantial drawdowns and consolidations that have happened not just in southern Italy, but in other portions of the EU as well.

I don't care how quiet the high school protest was, or where the graduation was located, because that's not the issue--the facility was made available for their use, and to do that to kids on one of the most important days of their lives is a cheap, classless, unkind, low blow. It's disrespectful to the children. Callous, selfish, and attention-seeking, frankly. Your beef is with their government, not them--so why take it out on them? Unless a desperate grab at publicity trumps character...

Gee, funny how Prodi has moved to the center when he doesn't do what the left wants!!!

I've only been through Vicenza once in the past year. Gee, ya got me on Time In Town.

You do realize that the Italians don't pay a chunk of those basing costs (via taxes) out of the goodness of their hearts, I trust. It's a Quid Pro Quo, you see. We have a deal with them that we'll stand at their ramparts if the shit hits the fan, in exchange for basing rights. So, if you have a problem with that, you need to take it up with Prodi, because that's a deal he signed off on. Like every government has before him in recent history, too.

Of course the US military don't pay VAT on fuel. Neither does the ITALIAN ARMY. Or the Greeks, Turks, Brits, and a host of others stationed at AFSOUTH, either. You'll plainly, because this bothers you, be horrified to learn that servicemembers and their families get between 200 to 400 liters of VAT-free fuel a month to help with their commuting costs and enable them to do a bit of basic tooling around, depending on the size of their personal vehicle. It goes with the assignment. They pay slightly higher than the US gasoline cost per gallon (cut into litres), on average, with the slight difference in cost going to support Morale, Welfare and Recreation endeavors at the base. Other-nation servicemembers stationed in the US are often given a plus-up in their salaries so that they can aord to live on the economy over here, too. It's how it works within NATO and other alliances.

Our mileage varies on this issue. It happens.

[stephinrome]

11. Prodi hasn't moved anywhere - he's ex DC for crying out loud!

Sorry for getting so worked up over those silly little US wars of aggression, just hate seeing people die and countries destroyed. Gee, you think it will all be over with Bush? That's certainly good news. So maybe we don't even need this new base.

Most Italians aren't aware they're paying operating costs of U.S. bases. It only leaked out in recent years and hasn't gotten much press. Certainly goes against the argument that the base will boost the economy, though, doesn't it?

Calling is a base expansion is distorting the truth. It's 8-9KM away on the other side of town. That's like saying I'm adding on to my apartment by buying one across town.

And good lord, what is this about standing in the ramparts? Sounds like something out of a John Wayne movie.

[MADem]

12. No, I am not distorting the truth. You just are not acknowledging the larger picture.

Have you seen the consolidation in Naples? It's astounding. Overall, we have a MUCH smaller footprint in Italy now. Not larger. And our footprint across the EU is astoundingly smaller.

"Standing on the ramparts" is a turn of phrase. Sorry if it excited or confused you somehow. What I was referring to, in plain language, is that if anyone attacks Italy, we spring to their defense as though it were our own homeland that was attacked. I mean, really--if you didn't get that this is what I meant, I'd be surprised. But the snark was unnecessary. It doesn't add to the discussion.

The capability or desire of militaries to deploy forward isn't going to go away. There won't be a 'Swords Into Plowshares' or Kumbaya Moment around the world anytime soon. If it weren't a US base, it would be a Russian or Chinese one. You might not like that reality, but that's the truth. And wishing otherwise won't make it happen.

I also think you don't realize that the land where these facilities will be placed is already military land. The section of Dal Molino to be converted is, and has been, military--it's just underutilized. We only build bases on land that the ITALIAN government owns, and their military controls. If more land is acquired, it's the ITALIANS who buy it, not us. When we cede facilities back, we cede them back to the Italian government, specifically, to military management.

If Italians don't realize where their taxes go, that's on them. I think they do know. Frankly, I don't really think they're as stupid as you make them out to be--my friends were very interested in politics, and were voracious consumers of Italian, US and international news. And the Communists over there never shut the fuck up, so I'm sure they've been flogging the fact a-plenty. Most Italians I know are better informed than most Americans, and certainly have a great gift for nuance as well as the ability to comprehend multiple points of view.

Some history:
http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=41844&archive=true

At stake is the U.S. use of a part of the airfield, still under control of the Italian military though mostly used by small civilian aircraft. It is a few miles northwest of the center of the city and the main U.S. installation, Caserma Ederle. Ederle, named after an Italian World War I hero, is home to SETAF and the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

But the brigade, which stood up in Vicenza on June 12, 2000, has grown from a single battalion to six battalions under Army transformation. Two battalions are based in Vicenza, with three more in Bamberg, Germany, and another in Schweinfurt, Germany.

The U.S. military has said it wants to consolidate the brigade in one location, implying that a “no” decision on Dal Molin for offices and barracks would mean the brigade would relocate — possibly to another country. That led local Italian workers on base, who number more than 700, to stage their own demonstration last week in support of the expansion.

Contrary to many Italian media reports, the expansion would not create the largest U.S. military base outside the States. In fact, as put forth in plans by U.S. officials, the U.S. presence in Vicenza is among the smallest in Italy in terms of land use, trailing Aviano Air Base, Navy facilities in and around Naples and Sigonella and Camp Darby. And it would be smaller than Aviano in terms of active-duty populations.

SETAF says the proposal would bring about 1,600 troops from Germany to Vicenza, bringing the Army population to about 4,200. Since the buildings still need to be built at the airfield, the move isn’t expected to take place until 2011.