The Long, Sad Story Of Diego Garcia

When I was younger and wont to travel, I used to love looking at globes and identifying far-flung places of interest. About the most far-flung place I ever discovered was a tiny dot of an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with the intriguing name Diego Garcia.

More or less equidistant from Africa, Australia and India, Diego Garcia is now a major US military base. It probably also houses a few CIA "ghost prisoners".

The British government has leased Diego Garcia to the US government since the late 1960's, when it tricked many of the 2,000 islanders into moving out. At the time, the Brits insisted the local inhabitants were not permanent settlers, only transient. One British diplomat at the time dismissively described them as "man Fridays" and "Tarzans".

Four years ago, a British High Court judge criticized previous governments' handling of the islanders and opened the way for them to return. Yesterday that decision was overturned, not by normal legislative process, but by use of council orders (a remnant of the once all-powerful royal prerogative).

Alan Vincatassin, leader of British Indian Ocean Territory Islanders' Movement, said last night: "It is totally horrendous and unacceptable. I am very angry. This law is the most barbarous I have seen in the name of the Queen. It is because the US wants to have these islands empty they [the Foreign Office] have removed the right of abode."

Diego Garcia is one of the most secretive military bases on the earth. It was used by the USA in both gulf wars.