Did you know that the US has long planned a permanent military presence in Iraq? And that billions of dollars are being spent to build permanent US "super" bases housing tens of thousands of personnel? These facts have never been made plain in the mainstream media--and are ever less likely to be visible through the smokescreens blowing from the White House and the Pentagon. With "drawdown" and "Iraqification" as their focus, media reports leave unasked the question: What permanent military presence, on the ground, is intended whether or not (as seems ever less likely) a friendly, stable, non-sectarian Iraqi regime gets established? Mother Jones (Feb 14) asks the mainstream media, "Can You Say 'Permanent Bases'?"--expecting the answer, No.
Will that change? "Big" is the media's favored euphemism for "permanent," apparently. Balad, currently the biggest US base in Iraq, houses 20,000 troops, few of whom ever come into any kind of contact with an Iraqi, as reported in the Washington Post (Feb 4.), "Biggest Base in Iraq Has Small-Town Feel". Balad--located in the Sunni triangle--has been compared to O'Hare, Heathrow, and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson and their suburban environs. The base is the handiwork of KBR, a subsidiary of (you guessed it) Halliburton. Encapsulated and (despite the location) safe, Balad servicepeople gain an average of ten pounds during their tours--a mirror-image of the ten-pound loss that troops stationed elsewhere in Iraq average. Balad is (presumably) one of four "super-bases" that the US has quietly been establishing, as reported in the Telegraph (Feb. 11), "Football and pizza point to US staying for long haul", which draws the not-too-remote inference that withdrawal is not anticipated. (Was it ever?) According to a recent World Public Opinion poll, a wide majority of Iraqis realize that the US plans to maintain permanent bases even if officially asked to leave; and about half approve of violent attacks intended to oust their slow-to-depart liberators. What could possibly justify these bases, if the Iraqis demand they be abandoned? The Bush Administation may have left itself no choice but to open another front in "the long war," ready or not.
[Update. March 20: The AP rouses itself and asks, "How Long Does U.S. Plan to Stay in Iraq?"]
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