Phantom military bases materializing in Iraq

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=b9f41c4ade25f4d6
snip...
Sometimes, when trying to cut through a veritable fog of misinformation and disinformation, it helps to focus on something concrete. In the case of Iraq, nothing could be more concrete - though less generally discussed in our media - than the set of enormous bases the Pentagon has long been building in that country.

Quite literally, multibillions of dollars have gone into them. In a prestigious engineering magazine in late 2003, Lieutenant-Colonel David Holt, the army engineer "tasked with facilities development" in Iraq, was already speaking proudly of several billion dollars being sunk into base construction ("the numbers are staggering"). Since then, the base-building has been massive and ongoing.

In a country in such startling disarray, these bases, with some of the most expensive and advanced communications systems on the planet, are like vast spaceships that have landed from another solar system. Representing a staggering investment of resources, effort and geostrategic dreaming, they are the unlikeliest places for the Bush administration to hand over willingly to even the friendliest of Iraqi governments.

If, as just about every expert agrees, Bush-style reconstruction has failed dismally in Iraq, thanks to thievery, knavery and sheer incompetence, and is now essentially ending, it has been a raging success in Iraq's "Little America". For the first time, we have actual descriptions of a couple of the "super-bases" built in Iraq in the past two-and-a-half years and, despite being written by reporters under Pentagon information restrictions, they are sobering.

Thomas Ricks of the Washington Post paid a visit to Balad Air Base, the largest US base in the country, 68 kilometers north of Baghdad and "smack in the middle of the most hostile part of Iraq". In a piece titled "Biggest base in Iraq has small-town feel", Ricks paints a striking portrait:



snip...

So Rumsfeld is full of it when he says we are getting out!!! No we have taken over...

[Selatius]

1. This line reminds me of that flick War of the Worlds from last year

"In a country in such startling disarray, these bases, with some of the most expensive and advanced communications systems on the planet, are like vast spaceships that have landed from another solar system."

The only difference is that the US is the one sending the war machines across the countryside to destroy and walk over everything.

[Harper_is_Bush]

2. Holy mother fucking krist

If Dems take control, will they vacate those bases?

[keopeli]

4. Not on your life...or mine.

[Zhade]

7. Most elected Dems are as imperialistic as Republicans.

Have been for a long time.

The United States is mentally ill. It believes it can do what it wants, when it wants, to whomever it wants.

That won't last forever.

[0007]

12. No photos, no mention of bases just lies and more lies.

[BeHereNow]

21. Sure, Clinton is planning on turning them over

to his fantasy land representative government
to use as boys and girls clubs- cause lord knows
he doesn't KNOW about them.
That is why I HAD to point out to you
on the other thread just how RIDICULOUS his
little declaration about Amerikkka not
wanting to dominate Iraq is to the REST of the world.
THINK ABOUT IT.
IF Clinton was seriously representing US- the
so called "democratic" party, WHY wouldn't he be
addressing THESE bases?
These bases just might appear to THINKING people
on the planet that US dominance, through MILITARY force,
is EXACTLY what is planned.
PLEASE, PLEASE tell me you don't
actually believe that Clinton is not aware of these bases?
WAKE UP!
BHN

[napi21]

3. Can't we get more publicity on this?

I was struck by the description of how the Pubs plan to play this for the 06 elections. Read the whole story at the link! I can see them doing this and I can also see it working for them!!!!

Somehow, we have to show all the voters just what's going on there!!!!!

[Geo55]

5. Why do you think

many folks , including myself , have been saying for some time now , They have no exit plan for a reason....as much as people like to characterize them as idiots , ...they're not.

[Lasher]

11. Me too

I have been saying over and over that there is no exit strategy because the neocons have a very deliberate intention that our military forces will NEVER leave Iraq. The construction of these permanent bases has been known for a long time now. Neocons plan to use these bases to launch attacks of conquest against Iran and other nations in the region. It's all laid out by PNAC.

Ike was right. We were not vigilant, and the military-industrial complex took over our country.

[truthisfreedom]

6. of course, we're planning on controlling the mideast from there.

who is kidding who? it was PNAC's plan all along. a neocon dream.

[laheina]

9. Right in the middle

for launch on Iran and Syria.

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. Is this in the Pentagon budget, or is some of the $8.8 billion "missing"

Iraq money being used for this? Or both?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x383328
thread title (2-10-06 GD): Holy Crap. Put on CBS right now: Billions of US $$ scattered in Iraq
Comment/excerpt: “The opening story is an exclusive, about 8.8 Bill lost and forgotten. Holy shit. It's out.” From Reply #20, CBS description: “Coming up on ‘60 Minutes’: Steve Kroft investigates how some of the $50 billion the U.S. spent on reconstruction work in Iraq was used and why $8.8 billion of it is unaccounted for." In Reply #10 is the link for the online story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/09/60minutes/main1302378.shtml

K & R - thanks for this important post. I hope it makes the DU Home Page.

[laheina]

10. K&R nt

[slaveplanet]

13. Thanks for reposting this

It's an important detail of Iraq that everyone needs to be aware of. It got lost in the shuffle Wednesday morning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x191020

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x426308

[rodeodance]

14. anyone know if Condi was asked about these bases in the hearing

the other day?

[rodeodance]

15. Iraq's "Little America".---and of course it is a military base!

[Pharaoh]

16. Excellent Post!

We've been hearing about these bases but this is the first real reporting I've seen on it.

K&R

[yy4me]

17. These bases go hand in hand with the new Embassy.

I haven't heard much about the building of the Embassy lately but it is supposed to be the size of a small town.
Is this the spot for the administrators to set up shop? This just gets more and more bizarre. If you told me our country was going to be like this just 20 years ago, I'd have bet the farm that you were wrong. How could we ever dream up anything like this administration. Its like a bad novel.

[happydreams]

18. The 14 permanent bases

In his first debate with President Bush, John Kerry made a surprisingly bold assertion about US policy toward Iraq: "I think a critical component of success in Iraq is being able to convince the Iraqis and the Arab world that the United States doesn't have long-term designs on it," Kerry said. "As I understand it, we're building some 14 military bases there now, and some people say they've got a rather permanent concept to them."

Though the media ignored Kerry's statement and failed to do any substantive follow-up research, his comments were well-grounded in reality. On the day of the debate the Christian Science Monitor spotlighted the findings of defense specialist John Pike, whose website, GlobalSecurity.org, located twelve "enduring bases" in Iraq, including satellite photos and names. In March, the Chicago Tribune reported that US engineers were constructing fourteen such long-term encampments--the number Kerry referred to. The New York Times previously placed the number at four.

While the exact figure may change, suspicions of undisclosed US imperial plans--exemplified by permanent military bases--rightfully linger. Before the war, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz suggested moving US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia into Iraq. In October, a survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes found that two-thirds of respondents disapproved of a permanent military presence, even though more than half thought the US would build the bases anyway.

Now comes a report in the New York Sun by Eli Lake revealing that the Pentagon is building a permanent military communications system in Iraq, a necessary foundation for any lasting troop presence. The new network will comprise twelve communications towers throughout Iraq, linking Camp Victory in Baghdad to other existing (and future) bases across the country, eventually connecting with US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan.

"People need to get realistic and think in terms of our presence being in Iraq for a generation or until democratic stability in the region is reached," Dewey Clarridge, the CIA's former chief of Arab operations (and Iran-contra point man), told the Sun. ....MORE




http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage?pid=2132

[Twist_U_Up]

19. Next stop Iran. Full speed ahead.

The whole middle east will be controlled by the New World Order.

[Clara T]

20. Orwellian as always

War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist.

[file83]

22. America has bases in Iraq. America has always had bases in Iraq.

[Starfury]

23. Thanks, Google! I think this is the Balad Air Base - judge for yourself

It's huge, looks like it's at least 10-12 sq. miles in area. If you think this is an "enduring camp" or a "contingency operating base," I have a wonderful bridge to sell you.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=baghdad,+iraq&ll=33.943502,44.380474&spn=0.059811,0.173035&t=h

(If you get bored, try counting the number of Apaches on the ground...)