Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.06.2003, Blaðsíða 10

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- the reykjavik grapevine -10 may 15 - may 29, 2003
“Nato base, restricted access,” said the sign. As we had secured an
invitation beforehand, we felt bold
enough to drive on regardless. A
soldier came running towards us,
double time, M-16 at the ready but
still, fortunately, pointing downwards.
He informed us that we were at the
wrong gate. We drove back, and
without further ado managed to
find the right one. We were met
by another guard, and this time he
pointed us in the direction of our
host, passes were issued and the
gate was lifted. Trailing behind the
car of our host, public affairs officer
Friðþór Eydal, one of about 1700
Icelanders working on the US Navy
base, we crossed the border into the
13th biggest town in Reykjavik, but
this one has little in common with the
others apart from being located on
the same island.
The US base in Reykjavik has
long been a bone of contention in
Icelandic society and in many cases
the dividing line in Icelandic politics,
and has been so ever since the end of
World War Two. Iceland had always
stood outside European wars due to
its geographical remoteness, and
when it became a free state within
the Kingdom of Denmark in 1918,
perpetual neutrality was declared.
On the morning of the 10th of May
1940, everything changed. That
morning (incidentally the same day
Winston Churchill became Prime
Minister of Great Britain, and Hitler
started his western offensive) the
people of Reykjavik woke up to
find a foreign army marching in the
streets. Iceland could no longer
depend on its remoteness to keep
it out of world events. Advances in
aviation and naval technology had
made it important geographically,
linking North America and Northern
Europe. As invasions go, this one
was fairly benign. Some of the locals
were at least relieved that it was the
British and not the German Army that
had landed, and the only casualty
on that first day was the door of
the telephone company, which the
occupying forces broke down when
taking control of the building.
A year later an agreement was
reached between the governments
of Iceland, Great Britain and the
United States, that the US would
take over the British presence, the
United States being at this time still
a non-combatant. The first American
troops came in July 1941. Part of the
agreement stipulated that US forces
would leave the island as soon as
hostilities came to an end. Armies,
however, once in place, have a habit
of remaining so.
The influx of money and
materials brought affluence on an
unprecedented scale, and Iceland
became an independent republic
under American protection in 1944.
On the other hand, the influx of
50.000 young men into a country
of about 140.000 caused various
social problems. Of particular
irritation, to the local men at least,
was the difference in gender ratio
this led to, and the attention the
young, well dressed and well paid
Americans received from the women.
The ministry of Justice set up a
committee to investigate the reported
lapse in morals, and it concluded
it had found about 500 instances
of close encounters between local
women and soldiers, and estimated
this was about a fifth of the whole
figure. The women were mostly
between the ages of 14 and 23,
although extremes ranging from 12
to 61 were recorded. The committee
concluded that the state of affairs
was “terrible,” but added that the
uncivilized behaviour of Icelandic men
contributed to women’s attraction to
the foreigners. No solutions were
proposed, but women seen in the
company of Americans were often
ostracized to a large extent. More
seriously still, there were instances of
overzealous guards killing Icelanders,
the greatest outrage braking out
when a 12 year old boy was killed by
a soldier who was later found to be
mentally unstable.
After the end of the war, in
1946, an agreement was reached
between the governments of Iceland
and the United States that stipulated
that American military forces be
withdrawn and civilians brought in
instead to run the airfield at Keflavik
airport, which would still be open to
military traffic between the US and
occupied Germany. Some saw this as
a betrayal of Icelandic independence,
and around 200 people stormed the
headquarters of the conservative
Independence Party, interrupted a
meeting and broke windows, and then
proceeded to sing the International in
from of the house of Prime Minister
Ólafur Thors.
Greater riots followed in 1949
when the government decided to
join NATO. The crowd demanded a
referendum and stones were thrown
through the windows of the parliament
building. Paving stones was pulled
out to use as weapons against the
police, and the crowd was eventually
dispersed with the aid of teargas.
As in 1946, it was promised that an
army would not be kept in Iceland in
peacetime. In 1951, however, and
partly as a result of the Korean War,
a new agreement was made whereby
US troops returned to Iceland.
The Navy Base in Cold Wars and
Cod Wars
During the Cold War the base in
Keflavik was an important stopover
for aeroplanes flying between
North America and Europe, and for
monitoring Soviet submarine activity.
With the US Navy commanding
the seas, the prospect of a Soviet
invasion were slight, but subsequent
declassification of files have shown
that four Soviet nuclear missiles were
pointed at the base. Soviet planes
frequently penetrated Icelandic
airspace, often on flights between
Russia and Cuba. F-15´s would be
scrambled to escort them out again.
The alliance came under strain during
the Cod Wars with Great Britain in the
early 70´s, some reports even have
the Prime Minister of Iceland calling
up the US commander while drunk
and demanding that he bomb the
Royal Navy! In any case, the American
Commander must have declined, and
the dispute was settled peacefully,
with Britain grudgingly accepting the
enlargement of Iceland’s territorial
waters.
Reykjavik again became a focus
of world events in 1986 with the
summit meeting between Reagan and
Gorbachev. By this time, advances
in aviation and long range aircraft
had reduced Iceland’s strategic
importance as a stopover, and it
disappeared almost overnight with the
end of the Cold War. As the prospect
of a major war in Europe and the
North Atlantic disappeared, the
United States reduced its presence,
and even suggested moving all its 18
JACKBOOTS ON ICE
THE UNITED STATES MILITARY BASE IN ICELAND
F E A T U R E A R T I C L E
T h e B a s e i n I c e l a n d i c C u l t u r e
The base has had its impact on Icelandic culture in a number of
ways. Armed Forces radio was broadcast to surrounding areas,
and it might be more than a coincidence that the first Icelandic
rock bands sprang up in Keflavik. Halldór Laxness (who won the
Nobel Prize in literature, as locals rarely tire of pointing out) wrote
the book Atómstöðin (The Atom Station) about the debate over
the base in 1945-46. The book has also been made into a stage
play and a film. One of the first Icelandic films, 79 af stöðinni (79
Off the Station), made in 1962, deals with an affair between a
taxi driver and a widow. She is also seeing an American soldier
on the side, he discovers this, and tragedy ensues. Two soldiers
from the base played in the film, and one of them was expelled
from the Army after the film was debated by the US Congress.
The punk band Utangarðsmenn (The Outsiders) made the
album Geislavirkir (Radioactive) in 1980, which dealt with the
consequences of a nuclear attack upon Keflavik, particularly in
the opening track Hiroshima, with the rousing chorus “you will all
die.” Interestingly, two of its members had an American father.
One of the country’s foremost rock poets, Megas, wrote the song
Ég á mig sjálf (I Own Myself) in 1975, about a girl who sleeps with
an entire army, which includes the line “first came war/And then
came soldiers/And then came peace/And even more soldiers.”
This is another instance of the theme of soldiers and Icelandic
women that has continued to preoccupy Icelanders to this day.
Most of the works dealing with the base portray it rather darkly,
reflecting the divisions this has caused in Icelandic society.
Of particular irritation to the local men was
the attention the Americans received from
the women. The women seen with soldiers
were aged between 12 and 61.
The US Army first came to Iceland in World
War Two, and has maintained a presence here
ever since. The War on Terror has put new
pressures on the US Military, and there are
plans to withdraw completely the fighter jets
of the Iceland Defence Force. We decided to
visit the base, and find out what the situation
there is.