The Chagossian eviction was never militarily necessary and cheap to remedy.

Evidence

There was never any good reason for evicting residents from the Northern Chagos, 100 miles or more from Diego Garcia. Probably the natives could even have been safely allowed to remain on the east side of Diego Garcia atoll … Such permission, for those who still want to return, together with resettlement assistance, would go a long way to reduce our deserved opprobrium. Substantial additional compensation for 18–25 past years of misery for all evictees is certainly in order. Even if that were to cost 100,000 per family, we would be talking of a maximum of 40–50 million, modest compared with our base investment there. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 224

Categorization

• XREF: Barber’s claim that the eviction was unnecessary directly supplies a counterpoint to the strategic-rationale justifications cited earlier in the book.