One of my favourite reads on the web lately has been Salon.com The latest article that's grabbed my attention is an article about how the U.S. Military has already constructed a number of bases in Iraq that are clearly intended to be "permanent." This has wide reaching implications for the Middle East and America's role in it (and the U.S. economy). It may sound like pretty dry stuff, but it really frightened me in a way that few things have lately. Here's a quote:
"After all, these giant bases, rising from the smashed birthplace of Western civilization, were not only built on (and sometimes out of bits of) the ancient ruins of that land, but are functionally modern ziggurats. They are the cherished monuments of the Bush administration. Even though its spokespeople have regularly refused to use the word "permanent" in relation to them -- in fact, in relation to any U.S. base on the planet -- they have been built to long outlast the Bush administration itself. They were, in fact, clearly meant to be key garrisons of a Pax Americana in the Middle East for generations to come. And, not surprisingly, they reek of permanency. They are the unavoidable essence -- unless, like most Americans, you don't know they're there -- of Bush administration planning in Iraq. Without them, no discussion of Iraq policy in this country really makes sense. "
The rest of the article is here.
B.
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