FOXNews.com - Politics - Analysts Ponder U.S. Basing in Iraq: "During the first presidential debate, Sen. John Kerry suggested that the U.S. military is planning to make 14 bases now in Iraq 'a permanent concept.'
While the major media overlooked the remark, instead critiquing the style and performance of the candidates, security analysts are debating whether the United States plans to use the bases, in various stages of construction, as strategic U.S. outposts in the broader War on Terror (search).
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., outfit that specializes in gathering national security and defense data, said researchers at his firm culled military news dispatches and can 'conclusively identify' nine of these so-called 'enduring bases,' and possibly three more that are 'too vague to pin down.'
Each location, he told FOXNews.com, can house about 8,000 troops. 'They are being constructed to a standard where they will be able to last for years,' he said.
News of the 'enduring bases,' Pentagon terminology for such facilities, first came to light in a March 2004 article by the Chicago Tribune. Calling them 'long-term encampments' for the thousands of U.S. soldiers expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years, the newspaper nonetheless quoted coalition officials as saying no policy is in place for the bases to serve as a permanent or even long-term headquarters for the United States in the Gulf region.
But Pike said several encampments, some of them already known, are definitely suited for the long haul. His group identifies places like Camp Anaconda in Balad, Camp Cooke in Taji, Post Freedom in Mosul, Camp Victory at Baghdad airfield and Camp Renegade in Kirkuk.
Pentagon and Central Command (search) officials told FOXNews.com they have no plans to make the bases permanent. They added that the United States is only in Iraq at the will of the government there, and will leave when the nation is safe or when coalition troops are asked to leave, whichever comes first. Then, the bases would become permanent Iraqi facilities.....
Currently, the United States has more than 700 military bases in 130 countries, including the Persian Gulf region nations of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Thousands of U.S. troops have been based in Germany, Turkey, Japan and South Korea for 50 years or longer.
Despite the denials, no one seems to know what the military relationship with a newly elected Iraqi government will look like.
"My gut hunch is we will be there for the better part of a decade," said Pike, who added that even if and when Iraq is stabilized, the country has no sizable armed services to defend itself and would need the assistance of the United States, perhaps even a presence as great as 50,000 troops over the next several years, until "the habits of pluralism and civil civic society become firmly rooted.
"It makes perfect sense to me," he said."
While the major media overlooked the remark, instead critiquing the style and performance of the candidates, security analysts are debating whether the United States plans to use the bases, in various stages of construction, as strategic U.S. outposts in the broader War on Terror (search).
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., outfit that specializes in gathering national security and defense data, said researchers at his firm culled military news dispatches and can 'conclusively identify' nine of these so-called 'enduring bases,' and possibly three more that are 'too vague to pin down.'
Each location, he told FOXNews.com, can house about 8,000 troops. 'They are being constructed to a standard where they will be able to last for years,' he said.
News of the 'enduring bases,' Pentagon terminology for such facilities, first came to light in a March 2004 article by the Chicago Tribune. Calling them 'long-term encampments' for the thousands of U.S. soldiers expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years, the newspaper nonetheless quoted coalition officials as saying no policy is in place for the bases to serve as a permanent or even long-term headquarters for the United States in the Gulf region.
But Pike said several encampments, some of them already known, are definitely suited for the long haul. His group identifies places like Camp Anaconda in Balad, Camp Cooke in Taji, Post Freedom in Mosul, Camp Victory at Baghdad airfield and Camp Renegade in Kirkuk.
Pentagon and Central Command (search) officials told FOXNews.com they have no plans to make the bases permanent. They added that the United States is only in Iraq at the will of the government there, and will leave when the nation is safe or when coalition troops are asked to leave, whichever comes first. Then, the bases would become permanent Iraqi facilities.....
Currently, the United States has more than 700 military bases in 130 countries, including the Persian Gulf region nations of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Thousands of U.S. troops have been based in Germany, Turkey, Japan and South Korea for 50 years or longer.
Despite the denials, no one seems to know what the military relationship with a newly elected Iraqi government will look like.
"My gut hunch is we will be there for the better part of a decade," said Pike, who added that even if and when Iraq is stabilized, the country has no sizable armed services to defend itself and would need the assistance of the United States, perhaps even a presence as great as 50,000 troops over the next several years, until "the habits of pluralism and civil civic society become firmly rooted.
"It makes perfect sense to me," he said."
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