Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Bases in Iraq
Here's the reason why you won't hear Bush, or any other official, say that we don't have plans for military bases in Iraq:
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At the same time, the Americans are building at least four semi-permanent military bases that could hold 18,000 troops each. These are usually described as way stations on the eventual route home for the Americans, places where they will stay while ever-more-capable Iraqi troops engage the insurgents on their own. But that will clearly take time. Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top military commander in Iraq, when asked this month about how the bases would be used, dismissed the question: "You're talking years away." And if Iraq's politics remain unstable, the bases could offer a continuing rationale for not providing heavier weaponry, since the Americans would still be close by for the Iraqis to rely on.Hmm..."semi-permanent military bases...described as way stations on the eventual route home for the Americans". I wonder if that's how we described our military bases in Germany and Japan, after World War II. I guess 60 years is still "semi-permanent".
