On U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Rumsfeld flew into Iraq today. Tom Paine.com's new blog, The Dreyfus Report, asks and answers an important question..."Does the United States want to have permanent military bases in Iraq? Does a camel sleep in the desert."
Speaking at a Feb. 11 seminar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, Isam Al Khafaji of the Open Society Institute—just returned from Iraq—noted that for the United States, the real issue isn't its oft-proclaimed commitmentto establishing a democratic Iraq. Instead, what's driving U.S. concern, he suggested, was strategic:
"The question is not democracy. The question is: how to develop a formally sovereign Iraq that signs a treaty with the United States, with permanent military bases for the U.S. All of Iraq's political actors are quite aware of the importance of this issue."
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