The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) plan to consolidate U.S. troop presence from 106 bases into four “giant” bases “is seen by some,” reports The Guardian, “as a sign that the US expects to keep a permanent presence in Iraq.”
Also: The U.S. will slowly turn over Saddam’s palaces to Iraqis, but no plans have been made for 11,000 detainees in U.S. hands. More below:
From The Washington Post, via OccupationWatch.org:
“We didn’t want to pick places that are too near Iraqi population centers, but we did want ones that would still allow us to influence an area and give us some power projection capability,” said the general, who is involved in the planning and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In time, the officers said, all of these last strongholds are expected to have sharing arrangements with Iraqi units. One officer noted that Tallil already is used partly by the small Iraqi air force.
“At some point, you cross the middle line and end up with U.S. contingents on Iraqi bases instead of Iraqi units on U.S. bases,” Yenter said.
This is not the first time U.S. commanders have drawn up plans to consolidate forces in Iraq. Early last year, before the insurgency strengthened, senior officers spoke of pulling troops out of urban centers and concentrating them in less obtrusive locations.
About the palaces:
Under the new consolidation plan, three palaces will be turned over to the Iraqi government by the end of the year — two in Tikrit and one in Mosul — with more to follow later. The majority of other U.S.-occupied property is assigned to go eventually either to the Defense or Interior ministries. But the fate of a number of other bases has yet to be determined. U.S. planners are exploring options with other national government ministries as well as provincial and local governments.
“The issue with returning a lot of these facilities to the government of Iraq is whether the government is prepared to provide the security, the care and custody,” said Maj. Noelle Briand, who heads a basing working group on the command staff. “My primary concern is that the government identifies the tenant that’s going in and how it’ll be able to provide for security.”
Nothing in the works for the poor souls at Camp Bucca, Abu Ghraib, and other detention facilities all over Iraq: