AMID TALK OF WITHDRAWAL, PENTAGON IS TAKING STEPS FOR LONGER STAY IN IRAQ

[norml]

AMID TALK OF WITHDRAWAL, PENTAGON IS TAKING STEPS FOR LONGER STAY IN IRAQ
By Eli Lake

New York Sun
January 14, 2005

http://www.nysun.com/article/7680

WASHINGTON -- As the Bush administration drops hints about withdrawing troops from Iraq as early as this year, the Pentagon is building a permanent military communications system that suggests American soldiers will be in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

The new network, known as Central Iraq Microwave System, will eventually consist of up to 12 communications towers throughout Iraq and fiber-optic cables connecting Camp Victory, located outside of Baghdad, to other coalition bases in the country, according to three sources familiar with the project. The land-based system will replace the tactical communications network the Army and Marines have been using in Iraq. That network relied primarily on satellites and is much easier to dismantle. The contract for the new communications system covering central Iraq, won by Galaxy Scientific Corporation, is worth about $10 million.

The New York Sun learned of the investment in the communications system at a time when Washington is abuzz with speculation that the president may this year bring home many of the 150,000 American soldiers serving in Iraq. Earlier this week on National Public Radio, Secretary of State Powell said that as Iraqi security services assume more responsibility in fighting insurgents, he would expect the number of American soldiers on the ground there to decline. "With the assumption of that greater burden, the burden on our troops should go down, and we should start to see our numbers going in the other direction," he said.

snip The new projects to build the CIMS network do not necessarily mean the number of American troops would not diminish over time. But according to experts as well as some Pentagon officials, the new investments indicate that there will at least be some level of American forces in Iraq for several years to come.

snip http://www.ufppc.org/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=2114&pop=1&page=0

[Vincardog]

1. Duh do you think that is why they are building 14 Permanent Bases?

Or may be why those bases are along the proposed pipeline route?

[Skidmore]

2. This administratoin plays shell games all the time.

I never believe a word they say. Can you name one thing they haven't told a lie about?

[Just Me]

3. Didn't ya' hear? NeoCONspirators' have a NO EXIT PLAN!!!

The neoCONspirators are implementing their plan for permanent US military presence.

I wish all Americans would turn-off the propaganda spun by this administration and begin to analyze actions.

[LynnTheDem]

4. Don't watch their LIPS; watch their HANDS. #1 rule dealing w CONMEN

It's not what they SAY, it's what they DO.

bush always says one thing and does another. Or in the rightwingnut lexicon, FLIP-FLOP.

[Swamp Rat]

7. GODDAMN RIGHT WING FLIP-FLOPPERS!!!

That's ALL they do, FLIP-FLOP FLIP-FLOP FLIP-FLOP!

Hey you lurking freeps! I have a bridge to sell ya! :D

[Carl Brennan]

5. Link for the 14 bases:

14 US Military Bases Under Construction In Iraq
By Pepe Escobar
May 25, 2004, 07:50

Iraqis also know that 14 US military bases are already under construction, enough to accommodate the (for the moment) 110,000 American soldiers who will stay in Iraq until at least 2007. No sovereign Iraqi government has approved the construction of these bases. Kimmitt - the No 2 Pentagon man in Iraq, and the one who launched total war on Fallujah - said the bases are "a blueprint for how we could operate in the Middle East". A ring of US military bases throughout what the Pentagon calls the Greater Middle East is a key element of the neo-conservative-driven strategy to control world energy resources as the way to control the destiny of America's economic rivals - the European Union and Northeast Asia.


One Year On: From Liberation To Jihad


By

"So this is the Bush administration-sponsored "free Iraq" people identify not only in the Sunni triangle but in the Shi'ite south: an occupying power maybe not formally occupying the country any more, but installed in 14 military bases and able to exercise full control on security, the economy and the whole infrastructure. In plain English: a US colony. This is the reason the mob in Fallujah rejoiced in the burning of those American bodies. This is the reason Sunnis and Shi'ites have for now united in anger. And this is the reason the "liberation" has finally turned into a jihad."

On April 9, 2002, Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdaus Square in Baghdad was still enveloped, like a Christo installation, waiting to be unveiled in an official ceremony. On April 9, 2003, the statue was toppled by the US Army, and later replaced by a faceless figure symbolizing "liberation". On April 9, 2004, the faceless statue is plastered with photographs of "outlaw" Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

One year after the "fall" of Baghdad, the old colonial maxim "divide and rule" does not apply anymore. For the occupiers, this is the ultimate nightmare: Sunni and Shi'ite, united (almost) as one. From Kirkuk in the north to Karbala in the south, from Fallujah to Nasiriyah, from Ramadi to Baghdad, Iraq is in turmoil - and this is not the work of "Saddam Fedayeen", "remnants of the Ba'ath Party" or "foreign terrorists". This is the beginning of the end: the serious possibility that the Shi'ites - 60 percent or so of the invaded and "liberated" Iraqi population - will be tempted actively to lead the multifaceted Iraqi resistance.

more
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_7942.... <http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_7942.shtml>

[norml]

6. Here's another good link, Iraq Facilities

A 20 April 2003 report in The New York Times asserted that "the U.S. is planning a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the unsettled region." The report, citing anonymous sources, referred to one base at Baghdad's international airport, another near Al-Nasiriyah in the south , the third at the H-1 airstrip in the western desert, and the fourth at Bashur AB in the north.

There had been several statements at that time about the possible duration of the US military presence in Iraq. Mr. Richard Perle mentioned six months; Ahmad Chalabi, two years.

American officials have tried to make the point that the US presence in Iraq will not be a permanent or long-term one. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a 21 April 2003 press conference said that any suggestion that the United States is planning a permanent military presence in Iraq is "inaccurate and unfortunate." Rumsfeld said "I have never, that I can recall, heard the subject of a permanent base in Iraq discussed in any meeting. ... The likelihood of it seems to me to be so low that it does not surprise me that it's never been discussed in my presence, to my knowledge. Why do I say it's low? Well, we've got all kinds of options and opportunities in that part of the world to locate forces, it's not like we need a new place. We have plenty of friends and plenty of ability to work with them and have locations for things that help to contribute to stability in the region. ... Rumsfeld: I think there is a down side. I think any impression that is left, which that article left, that the United States plans some sort of a permanent presence in that country, I think is a signal to the people of that country that's inaccurate and unfortunate, because we don't plan to function as an occupier, we don't plan to prescribe to any new government how we ought to be arranged in their country."

On 23 March 2004 it was reported that "U.S. engineers are focusing on constructing 14 "enduring bases," long-term encampments for the thousands of American troops expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years.... The number of U.S. military personnel in Iraq, between 105,000 and 110,000, is expected to remain unchanged through 2006.. the US plans to operate from former Iraqi bases in Baghdad, Mosul, Taji, Balad, Kirkuk and in areas near Nasiriyah, near Tikrit, near Fallujah and between Irbil and Kirkuk... enhance airfields in Baghdad and Mosul..."

snip http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/iraq-intro.htm

[norml]

9. Terror war and oil expand US sphere of influence

Terror war and oil expand US sphere of influence

GIs build bases on Russia's energy-rich flank

By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

MOSCOW – As the Roman Empire spread two millenniums ago, maps had to be redrawn to reflect new realities. In similar fashion, the expansion of the British Empire kept cartographers at their drawing boards, reshaping territories from Southern Africa to India to Hong Kong.
Now, as the United States wages its war on terrorism in Afghan-istan – and deploys troops for the first time in the energy-rich regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus – the borders of a new American empire appear to be forming. (See map.)



E-mail this story



Write a letter to the Editor



Printer-friendly version





Reporters on
the Job:

Scott Peterson gives you the story behind the story.




Map:
Oil and US military presence




Related stories:

03/04/02

US antiterrorist aid to Tbilisi rankles Russians

03/04/02

Why American troops are needed in Georgia




monitortalk:

Join an ongoing discussion about oil and terrorism.



Firmly in the Russian and later Soviet sphere of influence since Napoleon's day, these strategic regions, along with their Middle Eastern ramparts to the south, are now home to 60,000 American troops.

Some of these soldiers are building what appear to be long-term bases at remote Central Asian outposts, raising critical questions about America's future role
snip http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0319/p01s04-wosc.html

[norml]

8. Galaxy Scientific Corporation

Galaxy Scientific Corporation provides superior, technology-driven products and services
to a broad range of customers in both government and private industry.

About Galaxy Scientific | News | Contact Galaxy
Career Opportunities | Contract Vehicles | Products & Services | Search

Galaxy Tracking Systems, L.L.C. | Galaxy Aviation Security, L.L.C.


Engineering Integrated Services, L.L.C. | Galaxy Aviation Corporation
Galaxy Scientific Canada Company | Galaxy Environmental Corporation
Galaxy Litebeams | Guidance Systems, L.L.C. | Galaxy Technology, L.L.C.

C4I Tactical Systems | Engineering Support | Information Assurance | Information Technology
Safety Technology | Security Technology | Training Systems



http://www.galaxyscientific.com/