The Bases Are Loaded: US Permanent Military Presence in Iraq

Will the U.S. ever leave Iraq? Official policy promises an eventual departure, while warning of the dire consequences of a "premature" withdrawal. But while Washington equivocates, facts on the ground tell another story. Independent journalist Dahr Jamail, and author Chalmers Johnson, are discovering that military bases in Iraq are being consolidated from over a hundred to a handful of "megabases" with lavish amenities. Much of what is taking place is obscured by denials and quibbles over the definition of "permanent." The Bases Are Loaded covers a wide range of topics. Gary Hart, James Goldsborough, Nadia Keilani, Raed Jarrar, Bruce Finley Kam Zarrabi and Mark Rudd all add their observations about the extent and purpose of the bases in Iraq.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Iraq
• War
• Bush
• Bases

[procommenter]

McCain? Obama? It's of no consequence. In no important way does it make a hair's-breadth worth of difference which one-worlder "wins" the office of Chief Magistrate.

[oldKTown07]

U.S is definitely not gona be leaving anytime soon. So in the meantime our gov. will be on a aimless spending spree. there is no concern for Iraq, if there was, the troops would actually be saving people, not lavishing in condominiums, swimming in pools and sippin on starbucks,

[sporky69]

@2paclove2 It sure does!

[badattitude77769]

@Geotheologian Excellent books, not cheerful.

[2paclove2]

@billy1303 dont worry the ottmans controlled a lot of countries for almost 400 hundred years and they fell so usa could fall any time tomorrow or a 1000 years from now no one knows but history has a way of repeating itself

[cgleeish]

For as long as I remember, we were always at Iraq and will always be from what it sounds like. It's scary to think that war has already been part of our everyday lives and many don't even realize it. Because we've been at war with Iraq for what seems forever, many people already forget that we are currently living in a period of war. And after watching this video, it is obvious that we never planned to leave the country at all!

[albedoshader]

@billy1303: That's the most surprising fact. The "host" nations have to pay for the US bases. Okinawa (Japan) and Germany pay an awful lot for US Golf courses, spas, club houses and whatnot. Johnson's "Blowback" is a real eye opener in that respect.

[albedoshader]

@aggykryss: "Mission accomplished" was one of the greatest farces.

[aggykryss]

I used to complain that we had no exit strategy from the war in Iraq... After watching this video, it is apparent that exiting the country was never in the plan to begin with! Years after the conflict began and months after the official "end of combat operations" (which is questionable), I am still angry at the Bush administration for this abomination of an invasion.

[billy1303]

@billy1303 Continued We are fighting the "rebels". They sign the contract with us wether the iraqi people like it or not. The people of Japan and Germany don't want our bases their either, and you can find vids where they say this. You can find where the gov. says that they have an agreement with us and can not break it. I can give you proof on a lot of stuff. We are also in war on "terror" with 7 countries, and fixing to do 9 more w/ allies of course. That is 100% proof that you can find.

[billy1303]

@anyusmoon1 Go to Japan, German, or UK vids where they say they fund our bases. It would save us money, because we have to stock them with defense systems and military jets. There Japanese gov. said they pay for us to be their because withour us they would go bankrupt. They rely on us to heavily, because we supplied thousands of them with jobs. We've been in Japan for over 60 yrs. The Iraqi gov. agrees with us because we are not fighting them Continued -->