Iraq has become a giant Pentagon Construction site

[shance]

While our economy and dollar is in free fall, here is where our tax dollars are going....


"And the ramping up of the already gigantic "mega-bases" in Iraq proceeds apace.

Recent reports indicate that the Pentagon will call on Congress to pony up another billion dollars soon enough for further upgrades and "improvements."

We also know that frantic construction has been under way on three new bases of varying sizes.

The most obvious of these—though it's seldom thought of this way—is the gigantic new U.S. Embassy, possibly the largest in the world, being built on an almost Vatican-sized plot of land inside Baghdad's Green Zone.

It is meant to be a citadel, a hardened universe of its own, in, but not of, the Iraqi capital.

In recent months, it has also turned into a construction nightmare, soaking up another $144 million in American taxpayer monies, bringing its price tag to three-quarters of a billion dollars and still climbing.

It is to house 1,000 or so "diplomats," with perhaps a few thousand extra security guards and hired hands of every sort.

When, in the future, you read in the papers about administration plans to withdraw American forces to bases "outside of Iraqi urban areas," note that there will continue to be a major base in the heart of the Iraqi capital for who knows how long to come.

As the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler put it, the 21-building compound "is viewed by some officials as a key element of building a sustainable, long-term diplomatic presence in Baghdad." Presence, yes, but diplomatic?

In the meantime, a relatively small base, "Combat Outpost Shocker," provocatively placed within a few kilometers of the Iranian border, has been rushed to completion this fall on a mere $5 million construction contract.

And only in the last weeks, reports have emerged on the latest U.S. base under construction, uniquely being built on a key oil-exporting platform in the waters off the southern

Iraqi port of Basra and meant for the U.S. Navy and allies.

Such a base gives meaning to this passage in the Bush/Maliki declaration: "Providing security assurances and commitments to the Republic of Iraq to deter foreign aggression against Iraq that violates its sovereignty and integrity of its territories, waters, or airspace."

As the British Telegraph described this multi-million dollar project: "The US-led coalition is building a permanent security base on Iraq's oil pumping platforms in the Gulf to act as the ‘nerve centre' of efforts to protect the country's most vital strategic asset."

Chip Cummins of the Wall Street Journal summed up the project this way in a piece headlined, "U.S. Digs In to Guard Iraq Oil Exports—Long-Term Presence Planned at Persian Gulf Terminals Viewed as Vulnerable":

"he new construction suggests that one footprint of U.S. military power in Iraq isn't shrinking anytime soon: American officials are girding for an open-ended commitment to protect the country's oil industry."