Here Are Six Top Secret U.S. Bases That Are More Mysterious Than Area 51

The SUN: USA’s most secretive bases that are even MORE mysterious than Area 51

AREA 51 has hit headlines again this week after a prank Facebook page encouraging alien hunters to storm the base en masse garnered more than 1.5million confirmed attendees.

The aim is to uncover whatever secrets are hidden there – but Area 51 is just a drop in the ocean when it comes to mysterious US bases.

Dozens of secretive facilities are dotted across the globe, and we've put together some of the strangest below.

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WNU Editor:I am sure that there are more bases that we do not know about.

The Pentagon Has A Number Of Bases Around The World That Are 'Off The Books'

Photos of Strykers and up-armored Humvees flying U.S. flags were posted on social media over the weekend after the U.S. regional command confirmed that Special Forces troops in northeastern Syria had moved toward Manbij. Photo via Twitter

Nick Turse, The Nation: The Pentagon’s Shadow Military Bases

Many well-known and secretive bases have long been left off the Defense Department’s books.

The US military is finally withdrawing (or not) from its base at al-Tanf. You know, the place that the Syrian government long claimed was a training ground for Islamic State (ISIS) fighters; the land corridor just inside Syria, near both the Iraqi and Jordanian borders, that Russia has called a terrorist hotbed (while floating the idea of jointly administering it with the United States); the location of a camp where hundreds of US Marines joined Special Operations forces last year; an outpost that US officials claimed was the key not only to defeating ISIS, but also, according to General Joseph Votel, the commander of US forces in the Middle East, to countering “the malign activities that Iran and their various proxies and surrogates would like to pursue.” You know, that al-Tanf.

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WNU Editor: I suspect that this number is very high.

These Are The Most Important US Military Bases Overseas

Countries with United States military bases and facilities (Wikipedia)

Sputnik: Pentagon's Power Projection: Most Important US Military Bases Overseas

If North Korea conducted a missile strike against Guam, it could have had serious repercussions for the region, since the island hosts two of the most fortified US military installations in the Pacific, Sputnik contributor Andrei Kots writes, revealing what the most important US overseas military bases are.

Pyongyang has fulfilled preparations for a missile strike in the direction of Guam, the North Korean embassy's charge d'affaires, Jin Jong Hyop, revealed in an interview with Sputnik last Tuesday; according to Sputnik contributor Andrei Kots, the target chosen by Pyongyang is an especially significant one.

"One of the most powerful and fortified military bases of the Pentagon is located in Guam," Kots writes. "Its destruction could dramatically change the balance of power in the region."

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WNU Editor: I would add the following additional bases .... Camp Lemonnier (Djibouti), and Diego Garcia (India Ocean).

U.S. Acknowledges That It Is Operating A Clandestine Base In The U.A.E.

CNN

DOD Buzz: Air Force Acknowledges Clandestine Base in UAE

For the first time in over a decade, the U.S. Air Force is publicly acknowledging it runs an air war out of Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. embassy in country recently worked with Emirati counterparts to make the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing — an Air Combat Command-run unit at the base — known, officials told Military.com.

Military.com first spoke with members of the 380th on a trip to the Middle East earlier this summer on condition the name and location of the base not be disclosed, and that full names of personnel not be used due to safety concerns amid ongoing air operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

While the 380th was established at the base on Jan. 25, 2002, the U.S. military has had a presence on the base for approximately 25 years. The base is home to a variety of combat operations.

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WNU Editor: When you have U-2s landing at the base .... 'Catching' a U-2 fresh back from America's air wars (Reuters) .... it is quite obvious that more is happening at the base than what is publicly known.

These Are The Countries That Have More Than 1,000 US Troops Stationed

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Quartz: Mapped: Where in the world the US still has a military presence

In a speech delivered last night (Aug. 21) in Fort Meyer, Virginia, Donald Trump confirmed what was expected: he is walking back opposition to military involvement in Afghanistan, and instead sending more troops to a war that’s already cost the US some $800 billion and over 2,400 troops’ lives. After Obama failed to make good on his promise to withdraw from Afghanistan, Trump seems set to follow the same path.

This essentially confirms something the rest of the world has been suspecting for decades: Once it gets involved in a conflict, the US seems just incapable of leaving. According to the Department of Defense, the US still controls or operates 179 bases in Germany, hundreds more all over Europe, and 109 in Japan.

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WNU editor: A few surprises .... Vietnam, Mozambique, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, etc..

Do 800 U.S. Military Bases Abroad Help Or Hinder Global Security?

NPR: Do America's Military Bases Abroad Help Or Hinder Global Security?

The U.S. has around 800 military bases outside of the nation's borders. They're home to hundreds of thousands of troops and family members, and, in many cases, they're a cause of controversy.

David Vine, an associate professor of anthropology at American University, argues that we've become too dependent on such overseas bases — and that many of them cause serious opposition abroad. He lays out his thinking in his new book, Base Nation: How the U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.

Most of the bases were established during or shortly after World War II. And ever since, Vine says, there have been pockets of local opposition.

WNU Editor: Some people in some countries are not happy with this U.S. presence .... 70 years after the war, Okinawa protests new US military base (Al Jazeera). My guess is that it depends on the country, and what is their history with the U.S.. As to the overall role that the U.S. has played on global security .... I would say that the U.S. has played a positive role .... but  I would also acknowledge that there has been disasters where the U.S. presence could not calm a country or region when many of its local inhabitants harboured resentments or animosities amongst themselves .... and may in fact have inflamed them and made them worse. Iraq is the current case study for this type of disaster.