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US Plans Four Permanent Bases in Iraq
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US troops are to stay in Iraq for long. (Reuters)
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WASHINGTON, May 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net)
- US military commanders are planning to consolidate their troops in
Iraq into four large air bases, pulling back from Iraq's towns and
cities where they are facing almost daily attacks, according to US and
British dailies.
Although the plan foresees the hand
over of more than 100 bases occupied by US-led multinational forces to
Iraqi command, some see it as a sign that the US expects to keep a
permanent presence in Iraq, The Guardian said Monday, May 23.
This is because the decision to
invest in the bases that will require the construction of more
permanent structures such as blast-proof barracks and offices can mean
longer, maybe permanent, presence in Iraq, according to the British
daily.
Under the plan, US troops would
gradually concentrate inside four heavily fortified air bases, from
where they would provide "logistical support and quick reaction
capability where necessary to Iraqis".
The Washington Post reported a
day earlier that the new bases would be constructed around existing
airfields to ensure supply lines and troop mobility.
The US daily named the four probable
locations as Tallil in the south; Al Asad in the west; Balad in the
center and either Irbil or Qayyarah in the north.
Several US officers involved in
drafting the consolidation plan told the American paper that the bases
would have a more permanent character to them, with more robust
buildings and structures than can be seen at most existing bases in
Iraq.
The new buildings would be
constructed to withstand direct mortar fire.
Opposition
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Under the plan, US troops would gradually concentrate inside four heavily fortified air bases.
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Politicians opposed to a long-term US
occupation of the oil rich country questioned the plan, The
Guardian said.
"They appear to be settling in a
for the long run, and that will only give fuel for the
terrorists," a spokesman for the mainstream Sunni Iraqi Islamic
party told the paper.
"It has always been a main plank
of our exit strategy to withdraw from the urban areas and when Iraqi
forces are trained up and able to take the strain, a senior US
official in Baghdad said.
The official said the new plan has no
"hard-and-fast" deadline adding that “it is much better
for all concerned that Iraqis police themselves."
He further maintained the pace of the
"troop consolidation" would be dictated by the level of the
"insurgency" and the progress of Iraq's fledgling security
structures.
US officers told the Washington
Post a master plan for the positioning of US forces in the Middle
East, maintained by US Central Command, did not envision keeping US
forces in Iraq permanently.
Instead, it calls for what one Army
colonel described as "strategic over-watch" from bases in
Kuwait, meaning US forces there would be near enough to respond to
events in Iraq if necessary.
Funding for the first group of
redesigned barracks was included in the $82 billion supplemental
war-spending bill approved by Congress this month, a senior engineer
told the US paper.
US forces currently occupy 106 bases,
ranging in size from the sprawling Camp Victory complex near Baghdad's
international airport where the US military command is headquartered,
to some outposts with as few as 500 soldiers.
Additionally, the United States
operates four detention facilities and several convoy support centers
for servicing the long daily truck runs from Kuwait into Iraq.
In April, US President George W. Bush
hinted that it was difficult for the Americans to leave Iraq soon.
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