US bases in Iraq: sticky politics, hard math

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0930/p17s02-cogn.html

If a new Iraq government should agree to let American forces stay on, how many bases will the US request?

One, as the United States Army currently maintains in Honduras? Six, the number of installations it lists in the Netherlands. Or maybe 12?

The Pentagon isn't saying.

But a dozen is the number of so-called "enduring bases" located by John Pike, director of GlobalSecurities.org. His military affairs website gives their names. They include, for example, Camp Victory at the Baghdad airfield and Camp Renegade in Kirkuk. The Chicago Tribune last March said US engineers are constructing 14 "enduring bases," but Mr. Pike hasn't located two of them.

Note the terminology "enduring" bases. That's Pentagon-speak for long-term encampments - not necessarily permanent, but not just a tent on a wood platform either. It all suggests a planned indefinite stay on Iraqi soil that will cost US taxpayers for years to come.

more

[UpInArms]

1. and if this

Gawd-fearing *co says prayers, at the end he concludes:

"And war forever, amen"

[MGKrebs]

2. correction...

that website is actually www.globalsecurity.org

2 demerits for the CSM.

edit: and read Pike's stuff here. Rummy's comments are interesting. (this is not new.)

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/iraq-intro.htm

[teryang]

3. Very informative link

Thanks.

[Capt_Nemo]

4. John Pike's site is one of the most informative web resources

about military affairs

[teryang]

5. Thanks, I'll add it to favorites n/t

[leftchick]

7. interesting comment indeed....

and worth reading again....:grr:

<snip>
American officials have tried to make the point that the US presence in Iraq will not be a permanent or long-term one. US Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a 21 April 2003 press conference said that any suggestion that the United States is planning a permanent military presence in Iraq is "inaccurate and unfortunate." Rumsfeld said "I have never, that I can recall, heard the subject of a permanent base in Iraq discussed in any meeting. ... The likelihood of it seems to me to be so low that it does not surprise me that it's never been discussed in my presence, to my knowledge. Why do I say it's low? Well, we've got all kinds of options and opportunities in that part of the world to locate forces, it's not like we need a new place. We have plenty of friends and plenty of ability to work with them and have locations for things that help to contribute to stability in the region. ... Rumsfeld: I think there is a down side. I think any impression that is left, which that article left, that the United States plans some sort of a permanent presence in that country, I think is a signal to the people of that country that's inaccurate and unfortunate, because we don't plan to function as an occupier, we don't plan to prescribe to any new government how we ought to be arranged in their country."

[0007]

9. Great site

[leftchick]

6. Providing protection for Israel !!!

Joe repuke needs to get a clue what his tax dollars in Iraq are paying for...

<The actual amount depends on how many troops are stationed there for the long term. If the US decides to reduce its forces there from the 138,000 now to, say, 50,000, and station them in bases, the costs would run between $5 billion to $7 billion a year, estimates Gordon Adams, director of Security Policy Studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. That's two to three times as much as the annual American subsidy to Israel. is one of several reasons some analysts cite for the US invasion of Iraq.>

[UpInArms]

12. Chicago Tribune has a lengthy article

today regarding the I/P issue:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0410030437oct03,1,1593505.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[leftchick]

14. crap... you have to register....

could you give me some highlights? :)

[Ohio rules]

8. Are we ever getting out of Germany?

[struggle4progress]

10. kick for "Operation Enduring Bases"

:kick:

[illuminaughty]

11. Anyone remember the SNL skit

many, many years ago with Belushi playing "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave"? Where the guy shows up at your house and doesn't know when to go home. Well that's us. The Thing That Wouldn't Leave.

We're not leaving Germany, hey, it's only been 60 years. And we aren't leaving Iraq. 14 permanent bases and the largest American embassy in the world.

[NNN0LHI]

13. We left Iran. We left Vietnam. We will leave Iraq before too long n/t