A Permanent Presence
This was totally expected, wasn't it?
"Now comes a report in the New York Sun by Eli Lake revealing that the Pentagon is building a permanent military communications system in Iraq, a necessary foundation for any lasting troop presence. The new network will comprise twelve communications towers throughout Iraq, linking Camp Victory in Baghdad to other existing (and future) bases across the country, eventually connecting with US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan.
'People need to get realistic and think in terms of our presence being in Iraq for a generation or until democratic stability in the region is reached,' Dewey Clarridge, the CIA's former chief of Arab operations (and Iran-contra point man), told the Sun.
The fabled 'exit strategy' may be not to exit. Thomas Donnelly, a defense specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, said the new communication system resembles those built in West Germany and the Balkans, places where American troops remain today. 'The operational advantages of US bases in Iraq should be obvious for other power-projection missions in the region,' Donnelly wrote in an AEI policy paper.
Next time the Bush Administration hints at withdrawing troops, keep these grand plans in mind."
A Permanent Presence | Ari Berman
"Now comes a report in the New York Sun by Eli Lake revealing that the Pentagon is building a permanent military communications system in Iraq, a necessary foundation for any lasting troop presence. The new network will comprise twelve communications towers throughout Iraq, linking Camp Victory in Baghdad to other existing (and future) bases across the country, eventually connecting with US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan.
'People need to get realistic and think in terms of our presence being in Iraq for a generation or until democratic stability in the region is reached,' Dewey Clarridge, the CIA's former chief of Arab operations (and Iran-contra point man), told the Sun.
The fabled 'exit strategy' may be not to exit. Thomas Donnelly, a defense specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, said the new communication system resembles those built in West Germany and the Balkans, places where American troops remain today. 'The operational advantages of US bases in Iraq should be obvious for other power-projection missions in the region,' Donnelly wrote in an AEI policy paper.
Next time the Bush Administration hints at withdrawing troops, keep these grand plans in mind."
A Permanent Presence | Ari Berman
posted by NBT at 07:35
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