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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU S Air Force Base "Al Udeid" in Qatar -- What's at Stake in light of Trump's Big Mouth
Now that Donald Trump has admitted that he has done what he can to turn a number of states against Qatar (https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029167912), maybe we ought to consider what's at stake for the United States military.
The following should provide some indication of what Trump may be throwing away by stirring up this pot:
" CNN)As Saudi Arabia, along with a growing list of other countries, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday, it called on its allies to cease all travel and transport with its neighbor.
One of Saudi Arabia biggest allies, however, is the United States, which also happens to maintain its biggest concentration of military personnel in the Middle East at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base.
The sprawling base 20 miles southwest of the Qatari capital of Doha is home to some 11,000 US military personnel. The US Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, provides command and control of air power throughout Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and 17 other nations.
The US Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, provides command and control of air power throughout Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and 17 other nations.
The base, which boasts one of the longest runways in the Persian Gulf at 12,500 feet, is a strategically important facility that can accommodate up to 120 aircraft.
In 2016, the base was used as staging ground to fly B-52 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. Early in the Afghanistan campaign, F-16 fighters and E-8C Joint Stars reconnaissance planes that monitor ground units were based there, along with refueling tankers.
According to a 2014 congressional research paper by Middle Eastern specialist, Christopher M. Blanchard, Qatar invested over $1 billion to construct the air base during the 1990s, despite having only a small air force of its own at the time. This in turn, "facilitated gradually deeper cooperation with US military forces."
The base houses the forward headquarters of the US Air Force Central Command, Combined Air and Space
Operations Center and the 379th Air Expedition Wing.
The Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) oversees US military air power in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and 18 other nations, according to the Air Force.
Manned by personnel from the US Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines as well as coalition partner countries, the CAOC is "the nerve center" of air campaigns across the region, according to the Air Force.
Construction of the $60 million CAOC facility, which the Air Force says "resembles the set of a futuristic movie," was completed in 2003. At that time the US moved the CAOC from Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base, where since 1997 it had overseen operations during the war in Iraq.
The 379th Air Expedition Wing is "the largest, most diverse expeditionary wing" in the Air Force, according to the wing's website. It has more than 100 aircraft currently at the Qatar base, including combat planes like the B-1 bomber as well as planes for airlift, refueling and intelligence, the website says.
"Approximately every ten minutes, an aircraft is taking off or landing here -- this is not just during the duty-day -- it's 24/7," the wing's website says."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/05/middleeast/qatar-us-largest-base-in-mideast/index.html
Do we really have to ask whether Trump did (or had anyone else do) a cost benefit analysis about this before he helped cause the split that he now takes credit for? (See the DU OP cited above.)
C_U_L8R
(45,020 posts)And so it's been Trumped.
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)roscoeroscoe
(1,370 posts)unbelievably stupid
They also want all the Eastern NATO support bases gone - especially the ones in Poland and Romania.
Putin wants the all old Soviet satellite states back - and he wants the Baltic states under his control due to climate change and the increased accessibility to Arctic resources.
He'll probably let Germany remain unified, so long as their government is weakened. But Russia has always needed buffer states between them and the rest of the world.
Haele
C_U_L8R
(45,020 posts)The Trump Kraken
CrispyQ
(36,509 posts)He did some great ones back the the W years, too, didn't he?
C_U_L8R
(45,020 posts)Mirror and all.
BumRushDaShow
(129,444 posts)because they didn't want us there defiling their sand. It was bad enough that they took a lot of crap from their religious community for us being there for Operation Desert Storm.
Funny how times change.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)They have spent enough time among those backward inbreds.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)When it becomes Sunni vs. Shiite vs. ISIS, then I don't want Americans, in or out of uniform anywhere near that shitstorm.
It's not our job to babysit them while they have their version of what happened 4-5 hundred years ago in Europe when Christianity split up into separate sects.
Historic NY
(37,453 posts)stevenleser
(32,886 posts)he acted and opened his big mouth.