Editing Diego Garcia (section)

===Arrival of the U.S. Navy===
To the United States, Diego Garcia was a prime territory for setting up a foreign military base. According to Stuart Barber—a civilian working for the US Navy at [[the Pentagon]]—Diego Garcia was located far away from any potential threats, it was low in a native population and it was an island that was not sought after by other countries as it lacked economic interest. To Barber, Diego Garcia and other acquired islands would play a key role in maintaining US dominance. Here Barber designed the strategic island concept, where the US would obtain as many less populated islands as possible for military purposes. According to Barber, this was the only way to ensure security for a foreign base. Diego Garcia is often referred to as "Fantasy Island" for its seclusion.

[[File:Seychelles Governor inspection 1972.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[Bruce Greatbatch|Sir Bruce Greatbatch]], [[Governor of the Seychelles]], oversaw the [[depopulation of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago]].]]
The key component in obtaining Diego Garcia was the perceived lack of a native population on the island. Uninhabited until the late 18th century, Diego Garcia had no indigenous population. Its only inhabitants were European overseers who managed the coconut plantations for their absentee landowners and contract workers mostly of African, Indian, and Malay ancestry, known as [[Chagossians]], who had lived and worked on the plantations for several generations. Prior to setting up a military base, the United States government was informed by the British government—which owned the island—that Diego Garcia had a population of hundreds. The eventual number of Chagossians numbered around 1,000.<ref name="Health_and_Mortality_papers">{{cite book |url=http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/chagosmortalityreport.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024211628/http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/chagosmortalityreport.pdf |archive-date=24 October 2007 |url-status=live |publisher=[[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] |title=Health & Mortality in the Chagos Islands |series=Research and Analytical Papers |author=African Research Group |year=2000 |access-date=27 September 2011}}</ref>

Regardless of the size of the population, the Chagossians had to be removed from the island before the base could be constructed. In 1968, the first tactics were implemented to decrease the population of Diego Garcia. Those who left the island—either for vacation or medical purposes—were not allowed to return, and those who stayed could obtain only restricted food and medical supplies. This tactic was in hope that those that stayed would leave "willingly".<ref name="WashingtonPost-2007-01-01">{{cite news | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100698.html | title = Island of Injustice | author = David Vine | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | archive-date = 10 August 2017 | access-date = 27 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170810112003/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100698.html | url-status = live }}</ref> One of the tactics used was ordering all Chagossian dogs to be killed.<ref name="murder">{{cite news |url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27b/036.html |title=Diego Garcia—How the Brits deported a nation |date=22 October 2004 |newspaper=Z Magazine |access-date=3 October 2024 |archive-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007091935/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27b/036.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 1971, United States Naval [[Seabee|construction battalions]] arrived on Diego Garcia to begin the construction of the communications station and an airfield.<ref>{{cite web |first=Ted |last=Morris |url=http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/71.html |title=Personal Accounts of Landing on Diego Garcia, 1971 |publisher=Zianet.com |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=14 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314140054/http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/71.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=July 2023}} To satisfy the terms of an agreement between the UK and the United States for an uninhabited island, the plantation on Diego Garcia was closed in October of that year.<ref name="Sand_24">[[#Sand|Sand (2009)]], p. 24.</ref> The plantation workers and their families were relocated to the plantations on Peros Banhos and Salomon atolls to the northwest. The by-then-independent Mauritian government refused to accept the islanders without payment, and in 1974, the UK gave the Mauritian government an additional £650,000 to resettle the islanders.<ref name="Sand_25">[[#Sand|Sand (2009)]], p. 25.</ref> Those who still remained on the island of Diego Garcia between 1971 and 1973 were forced onto cargo ships that were heading to Mauritius and the Seychelles.

By 1973, construction of the Naval Communications Station was complete.<ref>[[#Edis|Edis (2004)]], p. 88.</ref> In the early 1970s, setbacks to United States military capabilities in the region including the [[fall of Saigon]], victory of the [[Khmer Rouge]] in Cambodia, the closure of the [[Peshawar Air Station]] listening post in [[Pakistan]] and [[Kagnew Station]] in Eritrea, the [[Mayaguez incident|''Mayaguez'' incident]], and the build-up of Soviet naval presence in [[Aden]] and a Soviet airbase at Berbera, [[Somalia]], caused the United States to request, and the UK to approve, permission to build a fleet anchorage and enlarged airfield on Diego Garcia,<ref name="Edis_90">[[#Edis|Edis (2004)]], p. 90.</ref> and the Seabees doubled the number of workers constructing these facilities.<ref name="Edis_90"/>

[[File:The O Club on Diego Garcia.jpg|thumb|This 1982 photo shows an unpaved road made of crushed coral common throughout the island and the officers' dining area at the Diego Garcia Naval Support Facility.]]

Following the fall of the [[Shah of Iran]] and the [[Iran hostage crisis|Iran Hostage Crisis]] in 1979–1980, the West became concerned with ensuring the flow of oil from the [[Persian Gulf]] through the [[Strait of Hormuz]], and the United States received permission for a $400-million expansion of the military facilities on Diego Garcia consisting of two parallel {{convert|12000|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} runways, expansive parking aprons for heavy bombers, 20 new anchorages in the lagoon, a deep-water pier, port facilities for the largest naval vessels in the U.S. and British fleets, aircraft hangars, maintenance buildings and an air terminal, a {{convert|1340000|oilbbl}} fuel storage area, and [[billet]]ing and messing facilities for thousands of sailors and support personnel.<ref name="Edis_90"/> The closure of the U.S. bases in the [[Philippines]] in the early 1990s brought many workers from [[U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay|Subic Bay]] and [[Clark Air Base]] to Diego Garcia.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.andersen.af.mil/News/Commentaries/Display/Article/416777/diego-garcias-master-budget-analyst-resource-advisor-recognized/ | title=Diego Garcia's master budget analyst, resource advisor recognized | date=8 May 2013 | access-date=11 March 2023 | archive-date=11 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311011516/https://www.andersen.af.mil/News/Commentaries/Display/Article/416777/diego-garcias-master-budget-analyst-resource-advisor-recognized/ | url-status=live }}</ref>