.What Exactly Is a ‘Permanent Base’?
In the debate over the future American military role in Iraq, the Bush administration has held firm on one point in particular: there will be no permanent American bases in Iraq. Just last week, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker denied a report in The Independent of London to the effect that the United States was building 50 “permanent” bases.
But what constitutes a permanent base? Almost anything, it turns out.
“The whole debate about permanent bases is meaningless,” said John Pike, the director of Global Security, a Web site that collects information on defense and intelligence issues. “There is no such thing as a permanent base.”
For example, Mr. Pike said, the United States military is currently vacating “temporary” facilities in the center of Seoul, South Korea, for more secure and modern barracks to the south of the city. Those temporary facilities, built after the Korean War, are more than 50 years old and crumbling.
On the other extreme, he said, Fort Monroe, Va., where ground was broken in 1819, was shuttered in the 2005 round of base closings.
So even though we may never have permanent bases in Iraq, we could very well have some venerable temporary facilities there before we finally depart.
How many? Recent reports, like that in the Independent and other media outlets put the number as high as 58. But how many bases do we have now?
The United States military does not say, and it is a hard number to pin down because it depends on what you call a base. In a 2005 report, Global Security identified 275 bases in Iraq. With the surge, which entailed the establishment of numerous, fortified outposts around the country that could be considered bases, that number is undoubtedly much higher now.
But some of the major military bases in Iraq, like the Baghdad airport, Balad and Asad, consist of as many as a dozen adjoining bases, each with its own entrance and administration, Mr. Pike says. So do you count them as, say, 12 bases or just one?
Right now, they are counted as 12. But in the continental United States, the military officially considers them as only one, Mr. Pike says. So just a small accounting change could, in theory, easily reduce 250 or more bases to 58 or less.
In any event, it is not clear why the United States would need more than a handful of big bases in the future, and most if not all of those are already there and looking quite permanent, from the KFC and Burger King outlets, to the car dealerships, to the 6,000- person mess halls.
Baghdad Bureau
But what constitutes a permanent base? Almost anything, it turns out.
“The whole debate about permanent bases is meaningless,” said John Pike, the director of Global Security, a Web site that collects information on defense and intelligence issues. “There is no such thing as a permanent base.”
For example, Mr. Pike said, the United States military is currently vacating “temporary” facilities in the center of Seoul, South Korea, for more secure and modern barracks to the south of the city. Those temporary facilities, built after the Korean War, are more than 50 years old and crumbling.
On the other extreme, he said, Fort Monroe, Va., where ground was broken in 1819, was shuttered in the 2005 round of base closings.
So even though we may never have permanent bases in Iraq, we could very well have some venerable temporary facilities there before we finally depart.
How many? Recent reports, like that in the Independent and other media outlets put the number as high as 58. But how many bases do we have now?
The United States military does not say, and it is a hard number to pin down because it depends on what you call a base. In a 2005 report, Global Security identified 275 bases in Iraq. With the surge, which entailed the establishment of numerous, fortified outposts around the country that could be considered bases, that number is undoubtedly much higher now.
But some of the major military bases in Iraq, like the Baghdad airport, Balad and Asad, consist of as many as a dozen adjoining bases, each with its own entrance and administration, Mr. Pike says. So do you count them as, say, 12 bases or just one?
Right now, they are counted as 12. But in the continental United States, the military officially considers them as only one, Mr. Pike says. So just a small accounting change could, in theory, easily reduce 250 or more bases to 58 or less.
In any event, it is not clear why the United States would need more than a handful of big bases in the future, and most if not all of those are already there and looking quite permanent, from the KFC and Burger King outlets, to the car dealerships, to the 6,000- person mess halls.
Baghdad Bureau
posted by madtom at 9:53 PM
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