Newsweek Baghdad Blog: US Congress is fooling itself regarding permanent bases

[sabra]

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/checkpointbaghdad/archive/2007/08/03/digging-in.aspx

Digging In
Friday, August 03, 2007 1:55 PM
By Joe Cochrane


Visiting a U.S. military base in Iraq can feel a little like a trip down Alice’s Wonderland rabbit hole. Inside the barbed-wire fences and flood lights, and just past the tanks and attack helicopters, is a slice of Americana. In between their dangerous duties, soldiers talk about the latest sporting events back home, work out in fully equipped gyms, go to the movies, and eat Pop-Tarts and Baskin Robbins ice cream in mess halls adorned with state flags and university banners as Fox News blares in the background.

It’s almost like home, these forward operating bases, known in military jargon as FOBs. (And those whose duties do not require them to leave the base are known as Fobbits.) Clearly, the ambience is no accident. Back in Washington, D.C., the Congress and White House are heatedly debating when to bring the troops home from Iraq. But a visit to one of these FOBs seems to suggest something else: the troops are digging in for a long stay.

From what I’ve seen, the U.S. military’s continuing infrastructure expansion at some forward operating bases, especially those with landing strips for fixed-wing aircraft, clearly signals that Iraq will be America’s South Korea or Germany of the 21st century. Bush administration officials have hinted as much. Sure, U.S. soldiers will rotate in and out, but the armed forces are here to stay.

...

Congress is fooling itself. They want U.S. military operations in Iraq limited to border security, counterterrorism and training the Iraqi Army. That alone, according to various analysts, would require that at least 75,000 American troops remain in Iraq indefinitely. However much they dress up the bases, those soldiers are still going to be a very long way from home.

[gasperc]

1. we couldn't have built a better cluster fuck if we tried

oil

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Mrs. Clinton Has Proven Newsweek Is Wrong

By being in favor of keeping troops in Iraq indefinitely.

So there.

[aquart]

3. And China waiting with a smile.

And no history of killing Muslims or Iraqis or anyone in that neighborhood.

They never have to lift a trigger finger. They will get it all without firing a shot.

All they have to do is wait for us to be exhausted and broken...and that day is tomorrow.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. Yes, the American Empire is here to stay. But at what cost?