Anyone seen MSM mention of permanent military bases in Iraq?

[me b zola]

I'm curious because I watch enough of the MSM to keep me in a bad mood, but I haven't seen mention of it. Also, does someone have the exact number (I believe it is ten, but I'm not sure) of how many bases in Iraq are under contract to be constructed?

Day after day I hear the talking heads talking about when we can get out of Iraq, but never a mention of the bases, indicating that, we have no intention of getting out. This little nugget of truth is too important to let the media & the talking heads get away with denying/ignoring.

[rodeodance]

1. no, i have not them talk of this (they do not talk of things cheney does

not want them to chat about you know).

[me b zola]

4. Do you know the exact number of bases?

Because I want to media/Congress/Senate blast them with questions regarding this, & I want to be as factual as possible.

[Stirk]

2. NPR calls them "embassies".

I'm sure the corporate media does the same, if they ever mention them at all.

[IChing]

3. 14 bases

The largest US military bases in the world

[leftchick]

5. Here you go....

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage?bid=13&pid=2132

<snip>

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.

The fabled "exit strategy" may be not to exit. Thomas Donnelly, a defense specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, said the new communication system resembles those built in West Germany and the Balkans, places where American troops remain today. "The operational advantages of US bases in Iraq should be obvious for other power-projection missions in the region," Donnelly wrote in an AEI policy paper.

Next time the Bush Administration hints at withdrawing troops, keep these grand plans in mind.


And....

US bases in Iraq: sticky politics, hard math

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.

The actual amount depends on how

[eridani]

6. MSM won't obviously, so Dems must

Start saying it. That is what the war is about. Reasonable people can disagree on how long it will take us to get out so as to cause the least amount of further damage, but DEMS MUST STOP OBFUSCATING AND IGNORING THIS FACT!!

The Nation ain't mainstream, bless their hearts.

[Pharaoh]

7. I hear 14

and these will are being populated now,
as they are closing bases all over the place and those troops will all be going to the middle east........
WW3 I think........