a_unique_person
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2963339.stm
from 2003
from 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4834032.stm
from 2007
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/report/bases.htm
Apparently, the bases in places like Europe and Japan are also not permanent.
On top of that is the US 'Embassy' in Iraq.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-04-19-us-embassy_x.htm
According to a story on the BBC today on the radio (transcript not available yet), it's about oil. Major long term contracts will be signed for 30 years, and these will be protected by these bases and facilities.
from 2003
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has denied that the US is planning long-term military involvement in Iraq, including bases. His comments follow a report in the New York Times newspaper, which said a number of senior officials had confirmed the plans.
Mr Rumsfeld said on Monday that the US was planning to discuss possible changes in its military presence in the Middle East with leaders in the region.
But the possibility of maintaining a permanent presence in Iraq had not been discussed, he said.
"I have never, that I can recall, heard the subject of a permanent base in Iraq discussed in any meeting," he told a Pentagon briefing.
"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."
from 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4834032.stm
The Pentagon has requested hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funds for military construction in Iraq, fanning the debate about US long-term intentions there.
The money will add to an existing bill of $1.3bn for military construction in the Middle East and South Asia - primarily Iraq and Afghanistan - in the last five years.
Much of the 2006 emergency funding is earmarked for beefing up security and facilities at just a handful of large airbases in Iraq.
This has prompted some to wonder whether the US has plans to maintain a permanent military presence - something the government has repeatedly denied.
But those concerned include the US House Appropriations Committee, which has demanded a "master plan" for base construction from the Pentagon before the money can be spent.
In a 13 March report accompanying the emergency spending legislation, it said the money was "of a magnitude normally associated with permanent bases".
A week later, after top US General John Abizaid refused to rule out a long-term presence, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the bill stating its opposition to permanent bases.
Iraqis 'stand up'
With mid-term elections looming in November, the administration in Washington is keen to cut troop numbers in Iraq dramatically.
According to President George W Bush, as Iraqi forces become ready to "stand up", coalition forces will stand down. The Americans are already thought to have handed over at least 34 of the 110 bases it held in Iraq a year ago.
US military officials confirmed to the BBC News website that this will mean upgrading and reinforcing a handful of huge airbases into which it is planned US forces will eventually pull back, to offer quick-response air support to Iraqi ground forces.
from 2007
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/report/bases.htm
“I have never, that I can recall, heard the subject of a permanent base in Iraq discussed in any meeting.”
- US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld *
The United States has been building large, expensive and long-lasting military bases in Iraq as well as an enormous new embassy complex in Baghdad. These construction projects are very controversial. Iraqis overwhelmingly oppose the bases, as numerous opinion polls have shown, and the US Congress has also rejected the spending of funds on “permanent” bases in Iraq. The bases and the embassy are widely seen as symbols that the US plans to wield exceptional military and political influence in Iraq -- and in the region -- for many years to come.
The Base Facilities
US forces established over a hundred bases of different sizes in Iraq during 2003 and 2004, including air bases, detention centers, ground force headquarters, logistical depots, and many smaller “forward operating bases” close to the theater of combat. [1] A year into the occupation, the Pentagon had already developed as many as fourteen bases beyond the level of temporary encampment. [2] Tents or trailers had begun to give way to more permanent living accommodations and infrastructure investments had been made in roadways, headquarters buildings and facilities for aircraft.
As of late 2006, there remained 55 US bases in Iraq,[3] among which commanders have chosen a small number for long-term or “enduring” development. The base-building process is now far along, with construction of major concrete runways, communications, utilities, and extensive amenities for troops.
These special bases are located in different regions of the country, permitting military control over the entire area of Iraq. The bases are centered around major military airfields, rebuilt from the Saddam era, which allow the resident ground forces to protect US air strike capabilities. The airfields give the bases some degree of independence from ground (and easily attacked) logistical support and they enable close coordination between ground forces and tactical air operations.
Though Pentagon budgets have made it impossible to determine precisely the sums devoted to Iraq base construction, considerably more than a billion dollars has been spent on these special bases.[4] In the 2006 supplemental budget, $348 million was allocated for further construction.[5]
The key facilities are:
al-Balad, also known as Camp Anaconda, 68 miles north of Baghdad; all Coalition air activity in Iraq is coordinated at this base.
al-Talil, 14 miles southwest of Nasiriya, in the south
al-Asad, about 120 miles west of Baghdad, near the Euphrates town of Khan al-Baghdadi
al-Qayyara, about 50 miles southeast of Mosul, in the north [6]
Camp Victory/Camp Liberty, a complex near the Baghdad International Airport, where the US military command has its headquarters. Other major upgraded facilities include Camp Marez, near Mosul Airport, Camp Cook, north of Baghdad, and a new base near Irbil in Kurdistan. Planning documents initially referred to these bases as “enduring bases,” but the Pentagon changed the term to “contingency operating bases” in February 2005. [7]
Planners reportedly see the bases as playing a political role in Iraq, particularly a capability to “influence” the region around them and to intervene in local as well as national or Middle East conflicts. As a senior general involved in the planning told the Washington Post, “We don’t want to pick places that are too near Iraqi population centers, but we did want ones that would still allow us to influence an area and give us some power projection capacity.” [8] The term “power projection capacity” apparently refers to potential military strikes against other countries, such as Syria and Iran.
These key US bases are enormous. Al-Balad/Anaconda is spread over fifteen square miles [9] while al-Asad and al-Talil bases total nearly twenty square miles each. [10] Even in the vicinity of Baghdad, the US base complex Victory/Liberty is so big that it accommodates a 140 mile triathlon course. [11] A large number of US service personnel are stationed at these facilities, as well as private construction crews and other contract workers. For military personnel alone, al-Balad/Anaconda counts 20,000, [12] al-Asad 17,000 [13] and Victory/Liberty 14,000. [14] Construction and contract crews number thousands more.
At the center of these bases there are large and sophisticated military airfields, with double runways of 10-12,000 feet, that can accommodate many aircraft, including fighters, drones, helicopters and large transport planes. Al-Balad hosts a total of 250 such aircraft, including 120 helicopters and numerous predator drones, parked on vast fields of concrete aprons and runways. [15] Newly-budgeted construction at the base includes a parking ramp for the air force’s huge C-5A Galaxy cargo plane, as well as upgraded lighting for round-the-clock operations. Balad’s air traffic is said to be among the world’s busiest, with 24/7 operations, comparable to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. [16] Al-Asad base airfield is also installing new lighting as well as a sophisticated air traffic control system. [17]
The bases are largely self-sufficient in terms of utilities, including power, phone systems, heating/cooling and hospital facilities. [18] While clean water, electricity or quality medical care are in short supply in the country, the bases are islands of fully-functioning amenities – a long and expensive way from military tents or temporary huts set up hurriedly in the countryside. It is ironic that the base projects proceed swiftly towards completion, while many other construction projects for Iraqis’ benefit such as water treatment plants, electricity generating stations, and health care facilities have been plagued by delays, shortfalls and failures.
Highly fortified perimeters protect the bases from their outside environment, and the Pentagon is currently further upgrading the perimeter security systems. At Al-Talil, contractors are building a $22 million double perimeter security fence with high-tech gate controls, guard towers and a moat-like protective ditch, while at al-Balad perimeter fences are being upgraded and the no-man’s land widened. [19]
The bases have reinforced concrete buildings, hardened protective bunkers, and elaborate electronic systems that are rarely, if ever, installed in temporary basing facilities. The bases also have extensive concrete barracks for troops and large internal road systems. And they have major logistics centers, enabling them to provide food, fuel, ammunition and other supplies to troops stationed in their sector of the country.
Apparently, the bases in places like Europe and Japan are also not permanent.
On top of that is the US 'Embassy' in Iraq.
Three years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, only one major U.S. building project in Iraq is on schedule and within budget: the massive new American embassy compound.
The $592 million facility is being built inside the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of a Kuwaiti contractor, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. Construction materials have been stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq's roads.
"We are confident the embassy will be completed according to schedule (by June 2007) and on budget," said Justin Higgins, a State Department spokesman.
The same cannot be said for major projects serving Iraqis outside the Green Zone, the Senate report said. Many — including health clinics, water-treatment facilities and electrical plants — have had to be scaled back or in some cases eliminated because of the rising costs of securing worksites and workers.
"No large-scale, U.S.-funded construction program in Iraq has yet met its schedule or budget," the committee report said.
Security is the "No. 1 factor that impedes progress," said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
Contractors and Army Corps of Engineers officials "are being shot at or threatened every day," he said. At least 467 contractors in Iraq have been killed, said Christine Belisle, a spokeswoman for the special inspector general.
According to the special inspector general's office, which Congress created to oversee U.S. projects in Iraq, 25% of nearly $21 billion for Iraq reconstruction has been diverted to pay for security.
The massive new embassy, being built on the banks of the Tigris River, is designed to be entirely self-sufficient and won't be dependent on Iraq's unreliable public utilities.
The 104-acre complex — the size of about 80 football fields — will include two office buildings, one of them designed for future use as a school, six apartment buildings, a gym, a pool, a food court and its own power generation and water-treatment plants. The average Baghdad home has electricity only four hours a day, according to Bowen's office.
The current U.S. Embassy in Iraq has nearly 1,000 Americans working there, more than at any other U.S. embassy.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-04-19-us-embassy_x.htm
According to a story on the BBC today on the radio (transcript not available yet), it's about oil. Major long term contracts will be signed for 30 years, and these will be protected by these bases and facilities.
