Worried Philippines Invites the U.S. Back

Twenty one years after being told to pack up and go home, units of the American military may soon be returning to the Philippines. For decades, the American complex of bases at Subic Bay, 50 miles north of Manila, was one of the largest bastions of U.S. military might anywhere outside the United States. Occupied by Americans since the Spanish-American War saw the islands conquered by the U.S. near the turn of the 20th century, the site was developed after the Second World War into a bustling naval base (with a large Air Force base nearby, as well). Subic Bay was a major part of the American presence in the Pacific during the Cold War, with thousands of personnel stationed there, along with tens of thousands of dependents. The base was a regular stopping point for U.S. ships active in the strategically important region.