{"id":5889,"date":"2010-02-10T01:30:01","date_gmt":"2010-02-10T10:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=5889"},"modified":"2010-02-10T01:30:01","modified_gmt":"2010-02-10T10:00:01","slug":"americas-shadowy-base-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=5889","title":{"rendered":"America’s Shadowy Base World"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/snipurl.com\/ubppw<\/a> [Tom Dispatch]<\/p>\n

Tomgram: Nick Turse, America’s Shadowy Base World<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

By Nick Turse
\nPosted on February 9, 2010, Printed on February 10, 2010
\nhttp:\/\/www.tomdispatch.com\/blog\/175204\/<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

Once is an anomaly; twice is the beginning of a pattern.\u00a0 Right now, we\u2019re seeing the same sequence of events for the second time in less than a decade, and it looks like the signature American way of war in our time is coming into focus.<\/p>\n

In 2003, when the Bush administration invaded Iraq, the Pentagon already had\u00a0on its drawing boards<\/span><\/a> plans for building a series of permanent mega-bases in that country.\u00a0 (They were charmingly called \u201cenduring camps.\u201d)\u00a0 Once Baghdad fell and it turned out that, Saddam Hussein or no, the U.S. was going to have to fight rather than settle in and let the good times roll,\u00a0hundreds of micro-bases<\/span><\/a> were added to the mega ones —\u00a0106<\/span><\/a> of them by 2005, more than 300 in all.\u00a0 Then, in 2005, Washington decided to trade in its embassy in one of Saddam\u2019s old palaces for something a little spiffier.\u00a0 In its place, on a 104-acre plot by the Tigris River in the middle of Baghdad, for at least three-quarters of a billion dollars after cost overruns, it built the largest,\u00a0most expensive embassy<\/span><\/a> on the planet.\u00a0 It was planned for a staff of 1,000 \u201cdiplomats\u201d with all the accoutrements of the good life and plenty of hired help.\u00a0 (Even now, despite much discussion about \u201cending\u201d the American role in Iraq, further plans are reportedly being made for the embassy\u2019s staff to\u00a0double<\/span><\/a>.)\u00a0 This was clearly to be U.S. mission control for the Greater Middle East. <\/span><\/p>\n

Building of this expansive kind is, of course, a staggering imperial undertaking.\u00a0 It implies a global power with resources beyond measure, for which waste means nothing.\u00a0 The mega-bases and the embassy were, in that sense, American wonders of the world, our own\u00a0ziggurat-equivalents<\/a> <\/span>in Mesopotamia, right down to the multiple PXs,\u00a0familiar fast food outlets<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0miniature golf<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 No empire had ever launched a base-building program quite like it (if, that is, you leave out the precursor to this whole experience, the U.S. in Vietnam in the 1960s). <\/span><\/p>\n

The Iraqi base-building project alone had already absorbed\u00a0several billion taxpayer dollars<\/span><\/a> in just the first half-year of construction in 2003.\u00a0 But it did look like a one-of-a-kind architectural adventure — until, that is, the \u201cforgotten war,\u201d the one in Afghanistan, came back into view.\u00a0 Starting in 2008, base building ramped up there, went into\u00a0overdrive in 2009<\/span><\/a>, and hasn\u2019t come out of it yet.\u00a0 The result: according to Nick Turse, author of\u00a0The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives<\/em><\/span><\/a>, an even more staggering base-construction splurge, and with it, the announcement last year that\u00a0another monster embassy<\/span><\/a> would go up, this time in Pakistan\u2019s capital, Islamabad, for another cool near-billion. (The already large U.S. embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, would also be\u00a0further expanded<\/span><\/a> to the tune of $175-200 million).\u00a0 And keep in mind that none of this even includes the\u00a0huge ring of supporting bases<\/span><\/a> for America\u2019s Afghan and Iraq operations in the Persian Gulf, South and Central Asia, and even on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. <\/span><\/p>\n

Does anyone see a pattern here?\u00a0 The American military must be the heaviest occupation force in history.\u00a0 According to reports, it now has\u00a01.5 million pieces<\/span><\/a> of equipment, micro to mega, to get out of Iraq as U.S. forces draw down.\u00a0 This is war and occupation of Guinness World Records proportions, a veritable Ripley\u2019s Believe It Or Not of imperial military construction.\u00a0 The only thing that won\u2019t make the record books, of course, is the results: in war-fighting terms, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the world\u2019s mightiest military has been battled to at least a draw by rag-tag, lightly armed, minority insurgencies. <\/span><\/p>\n

Who would believe any of this, if it weren\u2019t happening?\u00a0 Given how our media reports on such things, who would even know about it if you didn\u2019t read it first here at TomDispatch.com?\u00a0\u00a0Tom<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The 700 Military Bases of Afghanistan
\n<\/strong><\/span>Black Sites in the Empire of Bases
\n<\/strong>By\u00a0Nick Turse<\/span><\/a><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

In the nineteenth century, it was a fort used by British forces.\u00a0 In the twentieth century, Soviet troops moved into the crumbling facilities.\u00a0 In December 2009, at this site in the Shinwar district of Afghanistan\u2019s Nangarhar Province, U.S. troops joined members of the Afghan National Army in preparing the way for the next round of foreign occupation.\u00a0 On its grounds, a new military base is expected to rise, one of hundreds of camps and outposts scattered across the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly a decade after the Bush administration launched its invasion of Afghanistan, TomDispatch offers the first actual count of American, NATO, and other coalition bases there, as well as facilities used by the Afghan security forces.\u00a0 Such bases range from relatively small sites like Shinwar to mega-bases that resemble small American towns.\u00a0 Today, according to official sources, approximately 700 bases of every size dot the Afghan countryside, and more, like the one in Shinwar, are under construction or soon will be as part of a\u00a0base-building boom<\/span><\/a> that began last year.<\/p>\n

Existing in the shadows, rarely reported on and little talked about, this base-building program is nonetheless staggering in size and scope, and heavily dependent on supplies imported from abroad, which means that it is also extraordinarily expensive.\u00a0 It has added significantly to the already long secret list of Pentagon property overseas and raises questions about just how long, after the planned beginning of a drawdown of American forces in 2011, the U.S. will still be garrisoning Afghanistan.<\/span><\/p>\n

400 Foreign Bases in Afghanistan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesman for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) tells TomDispatch that there are, at present, nearly 400 U.S. and coalition bases in Afghanistan, including camps, forward operating bases, and combat outposts.\u00a0 In addition, there are at least 300 Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) bases, most of them built, maintained, or supported by the U.S. \u00a0A small number of the coalition sites are mega-bases like Kandahar Airfield, which boasts one of the busiest runways in the world, and Bagram Air Base, a former Soviet facility that received a makeover, complete with Burger King and Popeyes outlets, and now serves more than 20,000 U.S. troops, in addition to thousands of coalition forces and civilian contractors. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Kandahar, which housed 9,000 coalition troops as recently as 2007, is expected to have a population of as many as 35,000 troops by the time President Obama’s surge is complete, according to Colonel Kevin Wilson who oversees building efforts in the southern half of Afghanistan for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.\u00a0 On the other hand, the Shinwar site, according to<\/span><\/a> Sgt. Tracy J. Smith of the U.S. 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, will be a small forward operating base (FOB) that will host both Afghan troops and foreign forces.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last fall, it was reported that more than $200 million in construction projects — from barracks to cargo storage facilities — were planned for or in-progress at Bagram.\u00a0 Substantial construction funds<\/span><\/a> have also been set aside by the U.S. Air Force to upgrade its air power capacity at Kandahar.\u00a0 For example, $65 million has been allocated to build additional apron space (where aircraft can be parked, serviced, and loaded or unloaded) to accommodate more close-air support for soldiers in the field and a greater intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability.\u00a0 Another $61 million has also been earmarked for the construction of a cargo helicopter apron and a tactical airlift apron there. <\/span><\/div>\n

Kandahar is just one of many sites currently being upgraded.\u00a0 Exact figures on the number of facilities being enlarged, improved, or hardened are unavailable but, according a spokesman for ISAF, the military plans to expand several more bases to accommodate the increase of troops as part of Afghan War commander Stanley McChrystal\u2019s surge strategy.\u00a0 In addition, at least 12 more bases are slated to be built to help handle the 30,000 extra American troops and thousands of NATO forces beginning to arrive in the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently we have over $3 billion worth of work going on in Afghanistan,\u201d says Colonel Wilson, \u201cand probably by the summer, when the dust settles from all the uplift, we\u2019ll have about $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion worth of that [in the South].\u201d\u00a0 By comparison, between 2002 and 2008, the Army Corps of Engineers spent more than $4.5 billion on construction projects, most of it base-building, in Afghanistan.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the site of the future FOB in Shinwar, more than 135 private construction contractors attended what was termed an \u201cAfghan-Coalition contractors rodeo.\u201d\u00a0 According to Lieutenant Fernando Roach, a contracting officer with the U.S. Army\u2019s Task Force Mountain Warrior, the event was designed \u201cto give potential contractors a walkthrough of the area so they’ll have a solid overview of the scope of work.\u201d\u00a0 The construction firms then bid on three separate projects: the renovation of the more than 30-year old Soviet facilities, the building of new living quarters for Afghan and coalition forces, and the construction of a two-kilometer wall for the base.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the weeks since the \u201crodeo,\u201d the U.S. Army has announced additional plans to upgrade facilities at other forward operating bases.\u00a0 At FOB Airborne, located near Kane-Ezzat in Wardak Province, for instance, the Army intends to put in reinforced concrete bunkers and blast protection barriers as well as lay concrete foundations for Re-Locatable Buildings (prefabricated, trailer-like structures used for living and working quarters).\u00a0 Similar work is also scheduled for FOB Altimur, an Army camp in Logar Province.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Afghan Base Boom<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Afghanistan District-Kabul, announced that it would be seeking bids on \u201csite assessments\u201d for Afghan National Security Forces District Headquarters Facilities nationwide.\u00a0 The precise number of Afghan bases scattered throughout the country is unclear. <\/span><\/p>\n

When asked by TomDispatch, Colonel Radmanish of the Afghan Ministry of Defense would state only that major bases were located in Kabul, Pakteya, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif, and that ANA units operate all across Afghanistan.\u00a0 Recent U.S. Army contracts for maintenance services provided to Afghan army and police bases, however, suggest that there are no fewer than 300 such facilities that are, according to an ISAF spokesman, not counted among the coalition base inventory.<\/span><\/p>\n

As opposed to America\u2019s fast-food-franchise-filled bases, Afghan ones are often decidedly more rustic affairs.\u00a0 The police headquarters in Khost Farang District, Baghlan Province, is a good example.\u00a0 According to a detailed site assessment conducted by a local contractor for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Afghan government, the district headquarters consists of mud and stone buildings surrounded by a mud wall.\u00a0 The site even lacks a deep well for water.\u00a0 A trench fed by a nearby spring is the only convenient water source.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. bases that most resemble austere Afghan facilities are combat outposts, also known as COPs.\u00a0 Environmental Specialist Michael Bell of the Army Corps of Engineers, Afghanistan Engineer District-South\u2019s Real Estate Division, recently described<\/span><\/a> the facilities and life on such a base as he and his co-worker, Realty Specialist Damian Salazar, saw it in late 2009:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCOP Sangar… is a compound surrounded by mud and straw walls. Tents with cots supplied the sleeping quarters\u2026 A medical, pharmacy and command post tent occupied the center of the COP, complete with a few computers with internet access and three primitive operating tables. Showers had just been installed with hot [water]… only available from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAn MWR [Morale, Welfare and Recreation] tent was erected on Thanksgiving Day with an operating television; however, the tent was rarely used due to the cold. Most of the troops used a tent with gym equipment for recreation… A cook trailer provided a hot simple breakfast and supper. Lunch was MREs [meals ready to eat]. Nights were pitch black with no outside lighting from the base or the city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What Makes a Base?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

According to an official site assessment, future construction at the Khost Farang District police headquarters will make use of sand, gravel, and stone, all available on the spot.\u00a0 Additionally, cement, steel, bricks, lime, and gypsum have been located for purchase in Pol-e Khomri City, about 85 miles away. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Constructing a base for American troops, however, is another matter.\u00a0 For the far less modest American needs of American troops, builders rely heavily on goods imported over extremely long, difficult to traverse, and sometimes embattled supply lines, all of which adds up to an extraordinarily costly affair.\u00a0 \u201cOur business runs on materials,\u201d Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, told <\/span><\/a>an audience at a town hall meeting in Afghanistan in December 2009.\u00a0 \u201cYou have to bring in the lumber, you have to bring in the steel, you have to bring in the containers and all that. Transport isn\u2019t easy in this country — number one, the roads themselves, number two, coming through other countries to get here — there are just huge challenges in getting the materials here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To facilitate U.S. base construction projects, a new \u201cvirtual storefront\u201d — an online shopping portal — has been launched by the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).\u00a0 The Maintenance, Repair and Operations Uzbekistan Virtual Storefront website and a defense contractor-owned and operated brick-and-mortar warehouse facility that supports it aim to provide regionally-produced construction materials to speed surge-accelerated building efforts. <\/span><\/p>\n

From a facility located in Termez, Uzbekistan, cement, concrete, fencing, roofing, rope, sand, steel, gutters, pipe, and other construction material manufactured in countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan can be rushed to nearby Afghanistan to accelerate base-building efforts. \u201cHaving the products closer to the fight will make it easier for warfighters by reducing logistics response and delivery time,” says<\/span><\/a> Chet Evanitsky, the DLA\u2019s construction and equipment supply chain division chief.<\/span><\/p>\n

America\u2019s Shadowy Base World<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Pentagon\u2019s most recent inventory of bases lists a total of 716 overseas sites.\u00a0 These include facilities owned and leased all across the Middle East as well as a significant presence in Europe and Asia, especially Japan and South Korea.\u00a0 Perhaps even more notable than the Pentagon\u2019s impressive public foreign property portfolio<\/span><\/a> are the many sites left off the official inventory.\u00a0 While bases in the Persian Gulf countries<\/span><\/a> of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates are all listed, one conspicuously absent site is Al-Udeid Air Base, a billion-dollar facility in nearby Qatar, where the U.S. Air Force secretly oversees<\/span><\/a> its on-going unmanned drone wars.<\/span><\/p>\n

The count also does not include any sites in Iraq where, as of August 2009, there were still nearly 300 American bases and outposts<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Similarly, U.S. bases in Afghanistan — a significant percentage of the 400 foreign sites scattered across the country — are noticeably absent from the Pentagon inventory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Counting the remaining bases in Iraq — as many as 50 are slated to be operating after President Barack Obama\u2019s August 31, 2010, deadline to remove all U.S. \u201ccombat troops\u201d from the country — and those in Afghanistan, as well as black sites like Al-Udeid, the total number of U.S. bases overseas now must significantly exceed 1,000.\u00a0 Just exactly how many U.S. military bases (and allied facilities used by U.S. forces) are scattered across the globe may never be publicly known.\u00a0 What we do know — from the experience of bases in Germany, Italy, Japan, and South Korea — is that, once built, they have a tendency toward permanency that a cessation of hostilities, or even outright peace, has a way of not altering. <\/span><\/p>\n

After nearly a decade of war, close to 700 U.S., allied, and Afghan military bases dot Afghanistan.\u00a0 Until now, however, they have existed as black sites known to few Americans outside the Pentagon.\u00a0 It remains to be seen, a decade into the future, how many of these sites will still be occupied by U.S. and allied troops and whose flag will be planted on the ever-shifting British-Soviet-U.S.\/Afghan site at Shinwar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nick Turse is the associate editor of TomDispatch.com and the winner of a 2009 Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction as well as a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. His work has appeared in the <\/em>Los Angeles Times, the Nation<\/span><\/a>, In These Times, and regularly at TomDispatch. Turse is currently a fellow at New York University’s Center for the United States and the Cold War. He is the author of <\/em>The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives<\/span><\/a> (Metropolitan Books). His website is <\/em>NickTurse.com<\/em><\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/snipurl.com\/ubppw [Tom Dispatch] Tomgram: Nick Turse, America’s Shadowy Base World By Nick Turse Posted on February 9, 2010, Printed on February 10, 2010 http:\/\/www.tomdispatch.com\/blog\/175204\/ Once is an anomaly; twice is the beginning of a pattern.\u00a0 Right now, we\u2019re seeing the same sequence of events for the second time in less than a decade, and it … <\/p>\n

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