Unknown to most Americans,
Washington’s garrisoning of the planet is on the rise,
thanks to a new generation of bases the military calls “lily pads”
( as in a frog jumping across a pond toward its prey ).
These are small, secretive, inaccessible facilities with limited numbers of troops, spartan amenities,
and prepositioned weaponry and supplies.
Around the world,
from Djibouti
to the jungles of Honduras,
the deserts of Mauritania
to Australia’s tiny Cocos Islands,
the Pentagon has been pursuing as many lily pads as it can,
in as many countries as it can,
as fast as it can.
.