hesco bastion-If the U.S. is ultimately leaving Iraq, why is the military building ‘permanent’ bases

A Ban on Permanent - Yet Still Colossal - Bases?

Named after F/A-18 pilot Michael "Scott" Speicher who was shot down during the first Gulf War in 1991,Welded Gabion Box, Camp Speicher is located near Tikrit in northern Iraq,hesco bastion, approximately 170 kilometers north of Baghdad.

2) Camp Anaconda (Balad Airbase)

Saddam Hussein's former palace in Mosul is currently home to the 101st Airborne Division.

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Yet Balad Air Base is among the world's busiest airports - in 2006 it was reported as second only to London's Heathrow Airport2. Bases like Balad are large enough to house internal bus lines, motorcycle and car dealerships, shopping malls,Gabion Mattress, and even traffic- jammed roads3. The U.S. embassy in Iraq - the largest embassy in the world - approximates the size of the Vatican and runs its own electrical, power,waratah fence post-Consolidation of Military Medical Facilities And Training Center in San Antonio,, and sewage plants. As former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Edward Peck said, "The embassy is going to have a thousand people hunkered behind sandbags. I don't know how you conduct diplomacy in that way"4.

These mixed signals do little to allay Iraqi fears about U.S. intentions in Iraq. A 2006 poll revealed that 77% of the Iraqi public believed the United States was planning to leave permanent bases in Iraq,Welded Gabion Box-Consolidation of Military Medical Facilities And Training Center in San Antonio, T, and 78% believed the United States would keep these bases even if the Iraqi government requested their removal5. Now that the Iraqi government has asked for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops by December 31,waratah fence post-The Ultimate Lock Picker Hacks Pentagon, Beats Corporate Security for Fun and Pro, 2011, it is imperative that the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress match the "no permanent bases" policy with a corresponding reduction of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Camp Renegade (Kirkuk)

The Green Zone in central Baghdad includes the main palaces of former President Saddam Hussein. The area at one time housed the Coalition Provisional Authority; it still houses the offices of major U.S. consulting companies and the temporary U.S. embassy facilities.

Camp Victory is a U.S. Army base situated on airport grounds about 5 kilometers from Baghdad International Airport.  The base can house up to 14,000 troops.  Al Faw Palace on Camp Victory is surrounded by a man-made lake and serves as an unofficial conference center for the Army.

 

5 The World Public Opinion Poll conducted and published their comprehensive opinion poll survey in September 2006, published as "The Iraqi Public on the US Presence and the Future of Iraq".

3) Camp Taji (Taji)

12) Unknown name (between Irbil and Kirkuk)

The exact whereabouts and name of this base are unknown.  Analysts believe that the U.S. is building an "enduring base" near Nasiriyah, a provincial capital of South-East Iraq on the Euphrates River.  

13) Unknown

7) Camp Marez (Mosul Airfield)

4 Loeffler, Jane. "Fortress America." Foreign Policy Magazine. September/October 2007.

FCNL urges the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress to send a clear signal to both the U.S. and Iraqi people that the U.S. does not intend to build or maintain permanent bases in Iraq.  We also urge both branches of government to provide greater transparency of the cost and magnitude of the U.S. military presence there.  We provide this map in order to shed light on the already colossal U.S. military presence in the country to inform the policy debate on the long-term U.S. relationship with Iraq. 

See more details on individual bases in Iraq.

The exact whereabouts and name of this base are unknown.  Analysts believe that the U.S. is building an "enduring base" in Fallujah, a large town forty miles west of Baghdad.  Fallujah has proved to be the most violence prone area in Iraq.  Between early April 2004, when Marines halted their first offensive against the city, and November 2004, when the city was "re-taken" from insurgents, Fallujuh was a no-go area with numerous murders and bombings.

10) Camp Fallujuh (Rail Station?)

Move your mouse over the 'x' for details of the permanent U.S. bases in Iraq.1

No funds appropriated pursuant to an authorization of appropriations in this Act may be obligated or expended for a purpose as follows:
(1) To establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq.
(2) To exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.

5) Post Freedom (Mosul)

If the U.S. is ultimately leaving Iraq, why is the military expanding its bases there?

Strategically located near the Kirkuk oil fields and the Kirkuk refinery and petrochemical plant,gabion, Camp Renegade has a dormitory that houses up to 1,664 airmen in 13 buildings with six to eight people to a room. 

This map was accurate as of December 2008. If you have more recent information about bases in Iraq or Afghanistan, please get in touch with us.

 

1) Green Zone (Baghdad)

11) Unknown name (Nasiriyah)

For the third year in a row, Congress approved the FCNL-initiated proposal to ban the U.S. government from establishing permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. The prohibition reads

4) Camp Falcon-Al-Sarq (Baghdad)

What Does "Permanent" Mean?

6) Camp Victory- Al Nasr (Baghdad Airfield)

     

         

The Bush Administration has played word games with the word "permanent" that call into question the actual effect of the ban. The administration has rejected all or part of the ban in two "signing statements."

14) Unknown

   

Camp Taji, former Iraqi Republican Guard "military city," is now a huge U.S. base equipped with a  Subway, Burger King and Pizza Hut on the premises.

In late September 2003, the 439th Engineering Battalion delivered over 100,000 tons of gravel and is assisting with building roads, walls, guard towers, and buildings for Camp Falcon.  Camp Falcon is planned to house 5,000 soldiers.

9) Camp Speicher (Tikrit)

Located at an airfield southwest of Mosul, Camp Marez has a tent dining capacity for 500. In December 2004, a suicide bomber killed himself and 13 U.S. soldiers at the base’s dining tent.

More on Iraq

2Ricks, Thomas E. "Biggest Base in Iraq has Small-Town Feel." The Washington Post. 4 Feb. 2006: A14.

6 "What Basis for 'Permanent' Bases?" the Washington Post. 11 April 2008: A04.

1 Information on Iraq bases is from GlobalSecurity.org.  More information. Used with permission.

Camp Anaconda is a large U.S. logistical base near Balad.  The camp is spread over 15 square miles and is being constructed to accommodate 20,000 soldiers.

3 Hanley, Charles.  “Huge bases raise question: Is U.S. in Iraq to stay?”  The Associated Press.  21 March 2006.

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