The Many Silent Bases
US risks Arab backlash with ring of military bases
By William Arkin, LA Times
Behind a veil of secret agreements, the United States is creating a ring of
new and expanded military bases that encircle Afghanistan and enhance its
ability to strike targets in much of the Muslim world.
Since September 11, Pentagon sources say, military tent cities have sprung
up at 13 locations in nine countries neighbouring Afghanistan, substantially
extending the network of bases in the region.
>From Bulgaria and Uzbekistan to Turkey, Kuwait and beyond, more than 60,000
US military personnel are stationed in these forward bases.
While they make it easier for the US to project its power, they may also
increase prospects for renewed terrorist attacks on Americans.
The build-up, which is occurring with almost no public discussion, has
passed virtually unnoticed outside the region - partly for reasons of
operational security in Afghanistan, but also because Washington and host
governments have agreed not to discuss the bases in public.
But the reasoning behind these agreements underscores the risk. Though
Washington has obtained the support of the ruling regimes, including some
inside the former Soviet Union, most of the bases are in countries where an
American military presence stirs resentment among Islamic extremists.
"I swear to God that America will not live in peace before all the army of
infidels depart the land of the Prophet Muhammad," the al-Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden said in his first video message released after September 11.
US policy-makers have tended to dismiss such statements as propaganda, but
some analysts think they reflect widespread Muslim sensitivities that the US
has been slow to appreciate.
Many Islamic sympathisers view the continued presence of American forces in
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states since the end of the Gulf War in 1991 as
defilement of Muslim holy places. Without accepting this reasoning as a
justification for terrorism, some analysts believe US officials
underestimate the impact this presence may have in the Muslim world.
The Arab media are filled with speculation and conspiracy theories with many
seeing it as evidence of an American desire for hegemony and control.
The American build-up in the region began long before September 11, and it
has been paralleled by a shift in the focus of terrorist groups.
As the US built a network of facilities in six Persian Gulf states after the
Gulf War, terrorism increasingly focused on large US targets, from the
bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and USS Cole in Yemen to the
attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre.
At one time members of the armed forces were routinely "stationed" overseas
for tours of several years and often accompanied by their families. Now they
are "deployed", with the length of tour more uncertain and dependants almost
never allowed. The Pentagon said that before September 11, more than 60,000
military personnel were conducting temporary operations and exercises in
almost 100 countries.
Issues of decision-making, jurisdiction and authority held by the host
country are spelled out in documents called status of forces agreements. As
of September 11, Pentagon documents say, the US had formal agreements with
Qatar and 92 other countries. Since then, new classified arrangements have
been established with Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan..
It is uncertain how long the US will maintain a presence in these countries.
No-one inside the Pentagon or at Central Command headquarters has a
timetable for a withdrawal, though the Persian Gulf bases have been occupied
for more than a decade.
What seems to have been missing all along was a broad conceptual view of
what the whole effort might add up to, or what its implications might turn
out to be.
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