58 US Bases in Iraq?

I agree that it would bring instabilitiy, and i suspect it is part and parcel of the neo-con plan, which, according to the PNAC web site, has been calling for bases in Iraq since 1997. The only possible purpose would be to dominate the region militarily, and the most obvious current target would be Iran. Not only are the Shi'ite majority in Iraq no dummies, but they would hardly be likely to sign on to any threat to Iran, the only other majority Shi'ite nation in the world.

Re: 58 US Bases in Iraq?


I'd thought, it would be more.

(There are at least [still] 50 USArmy and 20 USAirforce in Germany ....)

U.S. Not Seeking Permanent Iraq Bases, Ambassador Says

Source

I see posts like that Walter and I wonder "so what's the point?"

Perhaps you could fill in that minor detail for me?

It appears to me that Walter's point is that someone is lying.

My point is that there are different opinions.

And before, my point before was that I can easily imagine that more than 50 basis will be there constantly.

IF THERE AREN'T MORE THAN 50 BASES IN IRAQ RIGHT NOW I WOULD BE SURPRISED AS HE-L.

Fifty bases or fifty-eight bases, either number is not that great? We're talking military bases that basically belong to the country, and the U.S. just gets to use them too. It's called nation building.

....and any information the Bush administration releases, McG is all up on it like a lap dog....as though this administration has had a long standing history of transparancy and "truthiness."

This likely just another morning dose of doublespeak from this administration.

Do you seriously think that no permanent bases
1) had originally been planned for Iraq?
2) have already begun construction in Iraq?
3) already exist in Iraq?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11072377/

I understand the liberal desire to want to believe any source that opposes what our government says. You guys can't help yourselves. It's part of the indoctrination program I suppose.

But, why would you trust representative's of Monkey al Sadr's party to tell you the truth?

Generally, the principle of "nation building" implies building things which the nation in question wants and are willing to pay for. What evidence do you have that the legally constituted government of Iraq (if there is such a thing there) asked to have 58 military bases constructed, and what the hell was wrong with the ones they already had?

I was going to link to The Project for a New American Century, the conservative "think tank" which was founded in 1997 by, among others, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol. There, at one time, one could see copies of letters to President Clinton, and policy statements which called for an invasion of Iraq and the establishment of permanent military bases in southwest Asia long before the Shrub was ever elected.

But it seems that the boys at PNAC haven't been paying the bills. When i tried to go there, i got the message: Project for a New American Century--This Account Has Been Suspended. Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible. So, it seems that not only have they not been paying the bills, it also appears that they're trying to dodge the bill collector. I also suspect they're trying to hide the evidence.


So, you'll have to settle for Wikipedia.

Wow. It's hard to beat that kind of symbolism.



That was a short century.

World hegemony don't come cheap . . .

He he.....a long time Bush supporter talking about some clandestine liberal indoctrination program.

No, McG, if anyone has been given a sense over the last 7 1/2 years that this administration was capable of providing any degree of truth or transparency to the American Public, there would be no question about their intentions. Unfortunately, the thinking public will take the word of, what did you call him....?....a monkey?

Does the number 58 have any meaning numerologically? Maybe the Kabbalah?

Can't say about that, but numerically, it seems like a large number. I don't favor any, but I thought we were talking about five or six bases, not 10x that. There are 107 bases in the US, including reserve bases and service academies. How do we justify asked for half that number for Iraq?

Something people seem to be missing in this thread, also, is that the Iraqi army and air force had bases of their own before the invasion. What happened to them? If, as conservatives rather naively claim, we are building these bases for the Iraqis, why do they need that many bases, and what happened to the military bases there from before the war?