The American military base on the island of Diego Garcia is one of the most strategically important and secretive U.S. military installations outside the United States. Located near the remote center of the Indian Ocean and accessible only by military transport, the base was a little-known launch pad for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and may house a top-secret CIA prison where terror suspects are interrogated and tortured. But Diego Garcia harbors another dirty secret, one that has been kept from most of the world--until now.

The ilois, the islanders -- The bases of empire -- The strategic island concept and a changing of the imperial guard -- "Exclusive control" -- "Maintaining the fiction" -- "Absolutely must go" -- "On the rack" -- Derasine: the impoverishment of expulsion -- Death and double discrimination -- Dying of Sagren -- Daring to challenge -- The right to return and a humanpolitik.