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US wants to keep Iraqi bases
well duh! EFLThe United States will seek continuing access to military bases in Iraq to maintain its strong Middle East presence, despite growing anti-American sentiment inside and outside Iraq. If you start every question to an Iraqi or Arab - "would you like to see the Americans eventually leave?" - guess what the answer would be? White House officials said they may not seek to keep a standing army in Iraq in the long term but the US did want to maintain access to Iraqi bases. Four likely bases were nominated: Baghdad's international airport; Tallil, near Nasiriyah; an isolated airstrip called H-1 in the western desert; and Bashur airfield in the Kurdish north. "There will be some kind of a long-term defence relationship with a new Iraq, similar to Afghanistan," a senior administration official told The New York Times. "The scope of that has yet to be defined - whether it will be full-up operational bases, smaller forward operating bases or just plain access." Whatever, just the fact that our forces are based on Irans', Syria's borders will make an attitude change, or provide basing for the big stick to whack them The US at present has bases in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. The Saudi bases were set up in response to Saudi concern about Saddam Hussein's territorial ambitions. Now that he has been deposed, the US is keen to reduce its presence in Saudi Arabia. The architect of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Osama bin Laden, repeatedly said it was the presence of US troops there that helped fuel his hatred for the West. Get out of Saudi, then start the ratcheting up of pressure Posted by: Frank G 2003-04-20 |
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