* steve wonders why all the countries on America's list of enemies don't stand united, adding:
"I bring this up because I don't think it is in our interest to survive by stealing the valuables of other countries and then killing whomever tries to object."* Noise:
"Would it be asking too much for someone in Washington to address the permanent bases?"i saw someone in washington trying to raise this issue just this week. i can't remember who. that's a start.
* Steve:
"I am pessimistic that a change of elected leadership at the local level, and at the national level, means any real difference in our commitments.
It seems, for example, that we could be lead to invade or attack or steal from a different list of countries now that the dems are in charge. I hear we will now be putting more efforts into wrecking latin america, all because they are "leftists" and trying to help their own people instead of the companies that fund the dems.
sigh..."
1 comment:
George McGovern and William Polk addressed the subject of U.S. bases in Iraq in their article, "A Blueprint for Leaving Iraq Now":
Withdrawal of American forces must include immediate cessation of work on U.S. military bases. Nearly half of the more than 100 bases have already been closed down and turned over, at least formally, to the Iraqi government, but as many as fourteen "enduring" bases for American troops in Iraq are under construction. The largest five are already massive, amounting to virtual cities. The Balad Air Base, forty miles north of Baghdad, has a miniature golf course, 2 PXs, a Pizza Hut, a Burger King, and a jail. Another, under construction at al-Asad, covers more than thirteen square miles. Although Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated on December 23, 2005, that "at the moment there are no plans for permanent bases. . . . It is a subject that has not even been discussed with the Iraqi government," his remarks are belied by action on the ground, where bases are growing in size and being given aspects of permanency. The most critical of these are remote military bases. They should be stood down rapidly. Closing these bases is doubly important: for America, they are expensive and already redundant; for Iraqis, they both symbolize and personify a hated occupation. With them in place, no Iraqi government will ever feel truly independent. It is virtually certain that absent a deactivation of U.S. military bases, the insurgency will continue. The enormous American base at Baghdad International Airport, ironically named "Camp Victory," should be the last of the military bases to be closed, as it will be useful in the process of disengagement.
Post a Comment