Tomdispatch.com: The Bases of War in the Middle East

From: Berhane Habtemariam <Berhane.Habtemariam_at_gmx.de_at_dehai.org>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 17:25:48 +0100

The Bases of War in the Middle East
>From Carter to the Islamic State, 35 Years of Building Bases and Sowing
Disaster

By <http://www.tomdispatch.com/authors/davidvine> David Vine

November 13, 2014.

With the launch of a new U.S.-led war in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic
State (IS), the United States has engaged in aggressive military action in
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/even-if-we-defeat-the-islamic-state-
well-still-lose-the-bigger-war/2014/10/03/e8c0585e-4353-11e4-b47c-f5889e061e
5f_story.html> at least 13 countries in the Greater Middle East since 1980.
In that time, every American president has invaded, occupied, bombed, or
gone to war in at least one country in the region. The total number of
invasions, occupations, bombing operations, drone assassination campaigns,
and cruise missile attacks easily runs into the dozens.

As in prior military operations in the Greater Middle East, U.S. forces
fighting IS have been aided by access to and the use of an unprecedented
collection of military bases. They occupy a region sitting atop the world's
largest concentration of oil and natural gas reserves and has long been
considered the most
<http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Oil-Consequences-Dependency-Petroleum/dp/080507
9386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415549650&sr=8-1&keywords=klare+blood+and+oil>
geopolitically important place on the planet. Indeed, since 1980, the U.S.
military has gradually garrisoned the Greater Middle East in a fashion only
rivaled by the Cold War garrisoning of Western Europe or, in terms of
concentration, by the bases built to wage past wars in Korea and Vietnam.

In the <http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175617/> Persian Gulf alone, the
U.S. has major bases in every country save Iran. There is an increasingly
important, increasingly large base in
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/world/africa/us-signs-new-lease-to-keep-s
trategic-military-installation-in-the-horn-of-africa.html> Djibouti, just
miles across the Red Sea from the Arabian Peninsula. There are bases in
Pakistan on one end of the region and in the Balkans on the other, as well
as on the strategically located Indian Ocean islands of Diego Garcia and the
Seychelles. In Afghanistan and Iraq, there were once as many as
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-06/supreme-owner-made-a-billionaire-f
eeding-u-s-war-machine.html> 800 and
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175588/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_the_pentago
n%27s_bases_of_confusion> 505 bases, respectively. Recently, the Obama
administration
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/us-troops-afghanistan-2024-oba
ma-bilateral-security-agreement> inked an agreement with new Afghan
President Ashraf Ghani to maintain around 10,000 troops and at least nine
major bases in his country beyond the official end of combat operations
later this year. U.S. forces, which never fully departed Iraq after 2011,
are now returning to a
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-more-than-doubl
es-number-of-troops-authorized-for-iraq/2014/11/07/846e0442-66bb-11e4-9fdc-d
43b053ecb4d_story.html> growing number of bases there in
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/world/middleeast/us-to-send-1500-more-tro
ops-to-iraq.html> ever larger numbers.

In short, there is almost no way to overemphasize how thoroughly the U.S.
military now covers the region with bases and troops. This infrastructure of
war has been in place for so long and is so taken for granted that Americans
rarely think about it and journalists
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175617/> almost never report on the
subject. Members of Congress spend billions of dollars on base
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175159/tomgram:_nick_turse,_out_of_iraq,_in
to_the_gulf/> construction and maintenance every year in the region, but ask
few questions about where the money is going, why there are so many bases,
and what role they really serve. By one estimate, the United States has
spent <http://time.com/3472277/syria-us-war/> $10 trillion protecting
Persian Gulf oil supplies over the past four decades.

Approaching its 35th anniversary, the strategy of maintaining such a
structure of garrisons, troops, planes, and ships in the Middle East has
been one of the great disasters in the history of American foreign policy.
The rapid disappearance of debate about our newest,
<http://time.com/3328080/isis-syria-aumf-obama-law/> possibly illegal war
should remind us of just how easy this huge infrastructure of bases has made
it for anyone in the Oval Office to launch a war that seems guaranteed, like
its predecessors, to set off new cycles of blowback and yet more war.

On their own, the existence of these bases has helped generate radicalism
and anti-American sentiment. As was famously
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm> the case with Osama bin
Laden and U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, bases have fueled militancy, as well
as attacks on the United States and its citizens. They have cost taxpayers
billions of dollars, even though they are not, in fact, necessary to ensure
the free flow of oil globally. They have diverted tax dollars from the
possible development of alternative energy sources and meeting other
critical domestic needs. And they have supported dictators and repressive,
undemocratic regimes, helping to block the spread of democracy in a region
long controlled by colonial rulers and autocrats.

After 35 years of base-building in the region, it's long past time to look
carefully at the effects Washington's garrisoning of the Greater Middle East
has had on the region, the U.S., and the world.

"Vast Oil Reserves"

While the Middle Eastern base buildup began in earnest in 1980, Washington
had long attempted to use military force to control this swath of
resource-rich Eurasia and, with it, the global economy. Since World War II,
as the late
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805077979/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20> Chalmers
Johnson, an expert on U.S. basing strategy, explained back in 2004, "the
United States has been inexorably acquiring permanent military enclaves
whose sole purpose appears to be the domination of one of the most
strategically important areas of the world."

In 1945, after Germany's defeat, the secretaries of War, State, and the Navy
tellingly pushed for the completion of a partially built base in
<http://www.amazon.com/Circling-Earth-Overseas-Military-1942-1948/dp/B000P1O
PEQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415715592&sr=1-4> Dharan, Saudi Arabia,
despite the military's determination that it was unnecessary for the war
against Japan. "Immediate construction of this [air] field," they argued,
"would be a strong showing of American interest in Saudi Arabia and thus
tend to strengthen the political integrity of that country where vast oil
reserves now are in American hands."

By 1949, the Pentagon had established a small, permanent Middle East naval
force (MIDEASTFOR) in
<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/manama.htm> Bahrain. In the
early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy's administration began the first
buildup of
<http://www.amazon.com/Island-Shame-Secret-History-Military/dp/0691149836/re
f=tmm_pap_title_0> naval forces in the Indian Ocean just off the Persian
Gulf. Within a decade, the Navy had created the foundations for what would
become the first major U.S. base in the region -- on the British-controlled
island of
<http://www.amazon.com/Island-Shame-Secret-History-Military/dp/0691149836/re
f=tmm_pap_title_0> Diego Garcia.

In these early Cold War years, though, Washington generally sought to
increase its influence in the Middle East by backing and arming regional
powers like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran under the Shah, and Israel.
However, within months of the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan
and Iran's 1979 revolution overthrowing the Shah, this relatively hands-off
approach was no more.

Base Buildup

In January 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced a fateful transformation
of U.S. policy. It would become known as the Carter Doctrine. In his
<http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/speeches/su80jec.phtml> State
of the Union address, he warned of the potential loss of a region
"containing more than two-thirds of the world's exportable oil" and "now
threatened by Soviet troops" in Afghanistan who posed "a grave threat to the
free movement of Middle East oil."

Carter warned that "an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the
Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of
the United States of America." And he added pointedly, "Such an assault will
be repelled by any means necessary, including military force."

With these words, Carter launched one of the greatest base construction
efforts in history. He and his successor Ronald Reagan presided over the
<http://www.amazon.com/Diego-Garcia-Creation-Indian-Ocean/dp/0595144063/ref=
sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415550907&sr=8-1&keywords=vytautas+bandjunis> expansion
of bases in Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in the region to
host a " <http://www.centcom.mil/en/about-centcom-en/history-en> Rapid
Deployment Force," which was to stand permanent guard over Middle Eastern
petroleum supplies. The air and naval base on Diego Garcia, in particular,
was expanded at a quicker rate than any base since the war in Vietnam. By
1986, more than $500 million had been invested. Before long, the total ran
into the <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/diego-garcia.htm>
billions.

 <http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20> Soon
enough, that Rapid Deployment Force grew into the U.S. Central Command,
which has now overseen three wars in Iraq (1991-2003, 2003-2011, 2014-); the
war in Afghanistan and Pakistan (2001-); intervention in
<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/usmnf.htm> Lebanon (1982-1984);
a series of smaller-scale attacks on
<http://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/15/politics/15REAG.html> Libya (1981, 1986,
1989, 2011);
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/eafricabombing/stories/
strikes082198.htm> Afghanistan (1998) and
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/eafricabombing/stories/
strikes082198.htm> Sudan (1998); and the "
<http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/03/world/from-air-and-sea-iran-iraq-tanker-w
ar-heats-up.html> tanker war" with Iran (1987-1988), which led to the
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2014/07/the_vin
cennes_downing_of_iran_air_flight_655_the_united_states_tried_to.html>
accidental downing of an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290 passengers.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan during the 1980s, the CIA helped fund and
orchestrate a major <http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175914/> covert war
against the Soviet Union by backing Osama Bin Laden and other extremist
mujahidin. The command has also played a role in the drone war in
<http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-graphs
/> Yemen (2002-) and both
<http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/Somalia/Somalia.htm> overt and
<http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/02/22/get-the-data-somalias-hidde
n-war/> covert warfare in Somalia (1992-1994, 2001-).

During and after the first Gulf War of 1991, the Pentagon dramatically
expanded its presence in the region. Hundreds of thousands of troops were
deployed to Saudi Arabia in preparation for the war against Iraqi autocrat
and former ally Saddam Hussein. In that war's aftermath, thousands of troops
and a significantly expanded base infrastructure were left in Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait. Elsewhere in the Gulf, the military expanded its naval presence
at a former British base in Bahrain, housing its
<http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140327/NEWS/303270034/Expansion-5th-Flee
t-base-underscores-long-term-gulf-presence> Fifth Fleet there. Major air
power installations were built in Qatar, and U.S. operations were expanded
in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.

The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and of Iraq in 2003, and the subsequent
occupations of both countries, led to a more dramatic expansion of bases in
the region. By the height of the wars, there were well over
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175588/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_the_pentago
n%27s_bases_of_confusion> 1,000 U.S. checkpoints, outposts, and major bases
in the two countries alone. The military also
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/opinion/us-checked-in-central-asia.html?_
r=0> built new bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (since closed),
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/1341581/Kazakhsta
n-Offer-of-airports-and-military-bases.html> explored the
<http://www.amazon.com/reader/0801446058?_encoding=UTF8&query=kazakhstan#rea
der_0801446058> possibility of doing so in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, and,
at the very least,
<http://www.cacianalyst.org/publications/analytical-articles/item/13014-ukra
ine-and-the-northern-distribution-network.html> continues to use several
Central Asian countries as logistical pipelines to supply troops in
Afghanistan and orchestrate the current partial withdrawal.

While the Obama administration failed to keep
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/21/iraq-rejects-us-plea-bases> 58
"enduring" bases in Iraq after the 2011 U.S. withdrawal, it has signed an
agreement with Afghanistan permitting U.S. troops to stay in the country
until 2024 and
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/us-troops-afghanistan-2024-oba
ma-bilateral-security-agreement> maintain access to Bagram Air Base and at
least eight more major installations.

An Infrastructure for War

Even without a large permanent infrastructure of bases in Iraq, the U.S.
military has had plenty of options when it comes to waging its new war
against IS. In that country alone, a significant U.S. presence
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175617/> remained after the 2011 withdrawal
in the form of base-like State Department installations, as well as the
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174789/the_mother_ship_lands_in_iraq>
largest embassy on the planet in Baghdad, and a large contingent of
<http://www.salon.com/2011/12/17/no_the_u_s_is_not_leaving_iraq/> private
military contractors. Since the start of the new war, at least
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-relies-on-persian-
gulf-bases-for-airstrikes-in-iraq/2014/08/25/517dcde0-2c7a-11e4-9b98-8487903
84093_story.html> 1,600 troops have returned and are operating from a Joint
Operations Center in Baghdad and a base in Iraqi Kurdistan's capital, Erbil.
Last week, the White House announced that it would request $5.6 billion from
Congress to send an additional
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/world/middleeast/us-to-send-1500-more-tro
ops-to-iraq.html> 1,500 advisers and other personnel to at least two new
bases in Baghdad and Anbar Province. Special operations and other forces are
almost certainly operating from yet more undisclosed locations.

At least as important are major installations like the Combined Air
Operations Center at Qatar's
<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/udeid.htm> al-Udeid Air
Base. Before 2003, the Central Command's air operations center for the
entire Middle East was in Saudi Arabia. That year, the Pentagon moved the
center to Qatar and officially withdrew combat forces from Saudi Arabia.
That was in response to the 1996 bombing of the military's Khobar Towers
complex in the kingdom, other al-Qaeda attacks in the region, and mounting
anger exploited by al-Qaeda over the presence of non-Muslim troops in the
Muslim holy land. Al-Udeid now hosts a 15,000-foot runway, large munitions
stocks, and around
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-relies-on-persian-
gulf-bases-for-airstrikes-in-iraq/2014/08/25/517dcde0-2c7a-11e4-9b98-8487903
84093_story.html> 9,000 troops and contractors who are coordinating much of
the new war in Iraq and Syria.

 <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/kuwait.htm> Kuwait has
been an equally important hub for Washington's operations since U.S. troops
occupied the country during the first Gulf War. Kuwait served as the main
staging area and logistical center for ground troops in the 2003 invasion
and occupation of Iraq. There are still an estimated
<http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/in-detail-the-us-military-streng
th-in-the-middle-east/story-e6frg6so-1227068027888?nk=8377ee0d489781c9ee1ce5
0d431c0d45> 15,000 troops in Kuwait, and the U.S. military is
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-relies-on-persian-
gulf-bases-for-airstrikes-in-iraq/2014/08/25/517dcde0-2c7a-11e4-9b98-8487903
84093_story.html> reportedly bombing Islamic State positions using aircraft
from Kuwait's Ali al-Salem Air Base.

As a transparently promotional article in the Washington Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-the-uae-the-united
-states-has-a-quiet-potent-ally-nicknamed-little-sparta/2014/11/08/3fc6a50c-
643a-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html> confirmed this week, al-Dhafra Air
Base in the United Arab Emirates has launched more attack aircraft in the
present bombing campaign than any other base in the region. That country
hosts about 3,500 troops at al-Dhafra alone, as well as the Navy's busiest
overseas port. B-1, B-2, and B-52 long-range bombers stationed on Diego
Garcia helped launch both Gulf Wars and the war in Afghanistan. That island
base is likely playing a role in the new war as well. Near the Iraqi border,
around 1,000 U.S. troops and F-16 fighter jets are operating from at least
one
<http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/in-detail-the-us-military-streng
th-in-the-middle-east/story-e6frg6so-1227068027888?nk=8377ee0d489781c9ee1ce5
0d431c0d45> Jordanian base. According to the Pentagon's
<http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/> latest count, the U.S. military has 17 bases in
Turkey. While the Turkish government has placed restrictions on their use,
at the very least some are being used to launch surveillance drones over
Syria and Iraq. Up to seven bases in
<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/oman.htm> Oman may also be
in use.

Bahrain is now the headquarters for the Navy's entire Middle Eastern
operations, including the Fifth Fleet, generally assigned to ensure the free
flow of oil and other resources though the Persian Gulf and surrounding
waterways. There is always
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/navy-deploys-2nd-aircraft-carrier-to-persian-gu
lf-uss-enterprise-joins-abraham-lincoln-strike-group/> at least one aircraft
carrier strike group -- effectively, a massive floating base -- in the
Persian Gulf. At the moment, the
<http://www.stripes.com/news/uss-carl-vinson-nears-persian-gulf-will-relieve
-uss-george-hw-bush-group-1.305857> U.S.S. Carl Vinson is stationed there, a
critical launch pad for the air campaign against the Islamic State. Other
naval vessels operating in the Gulf and the Red Sea have
<http://time.com/3422702/isil-isis-syria-obama/> launched cruise missiles
into Iraq and Syria. The Navy even has access to an "
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/uss-ponce-isn-t-persian-gulf-seal-
mothership-admiral-says.html> afloat forward-staging base" that serves as a
"lilypad" base for helicopters and patrol craft in the region.

In
<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2012/04/2012417131242767298.ht
ml> Israel, there are as many as six secret U.S. bases that can be used to
preposition weaponry and equipment for quick use anywhere in the area.
There's also a "de facto U.S. base" for the Navy's Mediterranean fleet. And
it's suspected that there are two other secretive sites in use as well. In
Egypt, U.S. troops have maintained <http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/> at least
two installations and occupied at least two bases on the
<http://mfo.org/sinai> Sinai Peninsula since 1982 as part of a Camp David
Accords peacekeeping operation.

Elsewhere in the region, the military has established a collection of at
least five drone bases in
<http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/12/15/cia-drones-quit-pakistan-si
te-but-us-keeps-access-to-other-airbases/> Pakistan; expanded a critical
base in
<http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-usmilitary-africa-20131020-story.html#pa
ge=1> Djibouti at the strategic chokepoint between the Suez Canal and the
Indian Ocean; <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/africom.htm>
created or gained access to bases in
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-dr
one-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_st
ory.html> Ethiopia,
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-expands-secret-int
elligence-operations-in-africa/2012/06/13/gJQAHyvAbV_story.html> Kenya, and
the
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/seychelles/9
188548/US-drone-crashes-at-Seychelles-airport.html> Seychelles; and set up
new bases in <http://www.eucom.mil/mission/the-region/bulgaria> Bulgaria
and
<http://www.stripes.com/news/us-transit-hub-in-romania-fully-operational-1.2
70655> Romania to go with a Clinton administration-era base in
<http://www.g2mil.com/bondsteel.htm> Kosovo along the western edge of the
gas-rich Black Sea.

Even in Saudi Arabia, despite the public withdrawal, a small U.S.
<http://usmtm.org/> military contingent has remained to train Saudi
personnel and keep bases "warm" as potential backups for unexpected
conflagrations in the region or, assumedly, in the kingdom itself. In recent
years, the military has even established a secret
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/world/middleeast/with-brennan-pick-a-ligh
t-on-drone-strikes-hazards.html?hp> drone base in the country, despite the
blowback Washington has
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175649/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_a_conspiracy_
of_stupidity/> experienced from its previous Saudi basing ventures.

Dictators, Death, and Disaster

The ongoing U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, however modest, should remind us
of the dangers of maintaining bases in the region. The garrisoning of the
Muslim holy land was a major recruiting tool for al-Qaeda and part of Osama
bin Laden's
<http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/stephen-glain/2011/05/03/what-actually-
motivated-osama-bin-laden> professed motivation for the 9/11 attacks. (He
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-july-dec96-fatwa_1996/> called
the presence of U.S. troops, "the greatest of these aggressions incurred by
the Muslims since the death of the prophet.") Indeed, U.S. bases and troops
in the Middle East have been a "
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact
=8&ved=0CCYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcsis.org%2Ffiles%2Fpublication%2Ftwq08spri
ngbowman.pdf&ei=_DNdVNuFPLTLsATknYK4Cg&usg=AFQjCNGr1RKhn7_eim2InSMCN76uFqreZ
A&sig2=OvoQCtsdNUkjXLss-5dpvw&bvm=bv.79189006,d.cWc> major catalyst for
anti-Americanism and radicalization" since a suicide bombing killed 241
marines in Lebanon in 1983. Other attacks have come in Saudi Arabia in 1996,
Yemen in 2000 against the U.S.S. Cole, and during the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact
=8&ved=0CCYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcsis.org%2Ffiles%2Fpublication%2Ftwq08spri
ngbowman.pdf&ei=_DNdVNuFPLTLsATknYK4Cg&usg=AFQjCNGr1RKhn7_eim2InSMCN76uFqreZ
A&sig2=OvoQCtsdNUkjXLss-5dpvw&bvm=bv.79189006,d.cWc> Research has shown a
strong correlation between a U.S. basing presence and al-Qaeda recruitment.

Part of the anti-American anger has stemmed from the support U.S. bases
offer to repressive, undemocratic regimes. Few of the countries in the
Greater Middle East are fully democratic, and some are among the world's
worst human rights abusers. Most notably, the U.S. government has offered
only
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175479/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_did_the_penta
gon_help_strangle_the_arab_spring/> tepid criticism of the Bahraini
government as it has violently
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175393/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_obama_and_t
he_mideast_arms_trade/#more> cracked down on pro-democracy protestors with
the help of the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Beyond Bahrain, U.S. bases are found in a string of what the
<http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=Democracy0814>
Economist Democracy Index calls "authoritarian regimes," including
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Yemen. Maintaining bases in such countries
<http://www.amazon.com/Base-Politics-Democratic-Military-Overseas/dp/0801446
058/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1415553718&sr=8-3&keywords=alexander+cooley>
props up autocrats and other repressive governments, makes the United States
complicit in their crimes, and seriously undermines efforts to spread
democracy and improve the wellbeing of people around the world.

Of course, using bases to launch wars and other kinds of interventions does
much the same, generating anger, antagonism, and anti-American attacks. A
recent
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/30/foreign-jihadist-iraq-syria-un
precedented-un-isis> U.N. report suggests that Washington's air campaign
against the Islamic State had led foreign militants to join the movement on
"an unprecedented scale."

And so the cycle of warfare that started in 1980 is likely to continue.
"Even if U.S. and allied forces succeed in routing this militant group,"
retired Army colonel and political scientist Andrew Bacevich
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/even-if-we-defeat-the-islamic-state-
well-still-lose-the-bigger-war/2014/10/03/e8c0585e-4353-11e4-b47c-f5889e061e
5f_story.html> writes of the Islamic State, "there is little reason to
expect" a positive outcome in the region. As Bin Laden and the Afghan
mujahidin morphed into al-Qaeda and the Taliban and as former Iraqi
Baathists and al-Qaeda followers in Iraq
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/world/middleeast/army-know-how-seen-as-fa
ctor-in-isis-successes.html> morphed into IS, "there is," as Bacevich says,
"always another Islamic State waiting in the wings."

The Carter Doctrine's bases and military buildup strategy and its belief
that "the skillful application of U.S. military might" can secure oil
supplies and solve the region's problems was, he adds, "flawed from the
outset." Rather than providing security, the infrastructure of bases in the
Greater Middle East has made it ever easier to go to war far from home. It
has enabled wars of choice and an interventionist foreign policy that has
resulted in repeated
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-t-klare/repudiate-the-carter-doct_b_1
60327.html> disasters for the region, the United States, and the world.
Since 2001 alone, U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Yemen
have minimally caused
<http://costsofwar.org/article/civilians-killed-and-wounded> hundreds of
thousands of deaths and
<http://costsofwar.org/sites/default/files/articles/13/attachments/CrawfordA
ssessingTheHumanToll.pdf> possibly more than
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/30/us-iraq-deaths-survey-idUSL304885
7920080130> one million deaths in Iraq alone.

The sad irony is that any legitimate desire to maintain the free flow of
regional oil to the global economy could be sustained through other far less
expensive and deadly means. Maintaining scores of bases costing billions of
dollars a year is unnecessary to protect oil supplies and ensure regional
peace -- especially in an era in which the United States gets only around
<http://nation.time.com/2011/04/24/a-question-for-the-obama-administration/>
10% of its net <http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6> oil and
natural gas from the region. In addition to the direct damage our military
spending has caused, it has diverted money and attention from developing the
kinds of alternative energy sources that could free the United States and
the world from a dependence on Middle Eastern oil -- and from the cycle of
war that our military bases have fed.

David Vine, a
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175755/david_vine_the_italian%20job>
TomDispatch regular, is associate professor of anthropology at American
University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0691149836/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20> Island
of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia. He
has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and
Mother Jones, among other publications. His new book,
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1627791698/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20> Base
Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World, will
appear in 2015 as part of the <http://www.americanempireproject.com/>
American Empire Project (Metropolitan Books). For more of his writing, visit
<http://www.davidvine.net/> www.davidvine.net.

 
Received on Thu Nov 13 2014 - 11:26:40 EST