This was originally dropped in Suskind’s CENSORED NEWS BREAKS THROUGH – AIR WAR ON IRAQ this morning:

where after complimenting him on his piece, I briefly mention (again) that the ‘story’ of the hidden (neglected) air war in Iraq began when the US started enforcing the ‘no-fly’ zones & littering the ground with depleted uranium in the 90’s.

The air war did burst into the headlines this morning:

US launches largest air assault since invasion of Iraq: google news search

but the sad thing is that even when reported, few will give a fuck.
“Operation Swarmer.” Samarra. Such alliteration!

O-oh say can you see?

Dahr Jamail has much more on those bases: Iraq: Permanent US Colony:

One example that provides some insight into their agenda is the US “Embassy” which is under construction in the infamous “Green Zone.”

As you read this, a controversial Kuwait-based construction firm is building a $592 million US embassy in Baghdad. When the dust settles, this compound will be the largest and most secure diplomatic compound in the world.

The headquarters, I mean “Embassy,” will be a self-sustaining cluster of 21 buildings reinforced 2.5 times the usual standards, with some walls to be as thick as 15 feet.
Plans are for over 1,000 US “government officials” to staff and reside there. Lucky for them, they will have access to the gym, swimming pool, barber and beauty shops, food court and commissary. There will also be a large-scale barracks for troops, a school, locker rooms, a warehouse, a vehicle maintenance garage, and six apartment buildings with a total of 619 one-bedroom units. And luckily for the “government officials,” their water, electricity and sewage treatment plants will all be independent from Baghdad’s city utilities. The total site will be two-thirds the area of the National Mall in Washington, DC.”

I wonder if any liberated Iraqis will have access to their swimming pool?

And unlike the Iraqi infrastructure, which is in total shambles and functioning below pre-invasion levels in nearly every area, the US “Embassy” is being constructed right on time. The US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee recently called this an “impressive” feat, considering the construction is taking place in one of the most violent and volatile spots on the planet.

Then there are the permanent military bases.

To give you an idea of what these look like in Iraq, let’s start with Camp Anaconda, near Balad. Occupying 15 square miles of Iraq, the base boasts two swimming pools (not the plastic inflatable type), a gym, mini-golf course and first-run movie theater.

The 20,000 soldiers who live at the Balad Air Base, less than 1,000 of whom ever leave the base, can inspect new iPod accessories in one of the two base exchanges, which have piles of the latest electronics and racks of CDs to choose from. One of the PX managers recently boasted that every day he was selling 15 televisions to soldiers.

At Camp Anaconda, located in al-Anbar province where resistance is fierce, the occupation forces live in air-conditioned units where plans are being drawn up to run internet, cable television and overseas telephone access to them.

The thousands of civilian contractors live at the base in a section called “KBR-land,” and there is a hospital where doctors carry out 400 surgeries every month on wounded troops.
Air Force officials on the base claim the runway there is one of the busiest in the world, where unmanned Predator drones take off carrying their Hellfire missiles, along with F-16’s, C-130’s, helicopters, and countless others, as the bases houses over 250 aircraft.
If troops aren’t up for the rather lavish dinners served by “Third Country Nationals” from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who work for slave wages, they can visit the Burger King, Pizza Hut, Popeye’s or Subway, then wash it down with a mocha from the Starbucks.

There are several other gigantic bases in Iraq besides camp Anaconda, such as Camp Victory near Baghdad Airport, which – according to a reporter for Mother Jones magazine – when complete will be twice the size of Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. The Kosovo base is currently one of the largest overseas bases built since the war in Vietnam.

Camp Liberty is adjacent to Camp Victory – where soldiers even compete in their own triathlons. “The course, longer than 140 total miles, spanned several bases in the greater Camp Victory area in west Baghdad,” says a news article on a DOD web site.

Mr. Bush refuses to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq because he doesn’t intend to withdraw. He doesn’t intend to because he’s following a larger plan for the US in the Middle East.

Less than two weeks after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, US military officials announced the intention to maintain at least four large bases in Iraq that could be used in the future.

These are located near Baghdad International Airport (where the triathlon was), Tallil (near Nasiriyah, in the south), one in the Kurdish north at either Irbil or Qayyarah (they are only 50 kilometers apart) and one in western al-Anbar province at Al-Asad. Of course, let’s not forget the aforementioned Camp Anaconda in Balad.

More recently, on May 22 of last year, US military commanders announced that they would consolidate troops into four large air bases. It was announced at this time that while buildings were being made of concrete instead of the usual metal trailers and tin-sheathed buildings, military officers working on the plan “said the consolidation plan was not meant to establish a permanent US military presence in Iraq.”

Right.

The US has at least four of these massive bases in Iraq. Billions of dollars have been spent in their construction, and they are in about the same locations where they were mentioned they would be by military planners back before Mr. Bush declared that major combat operations were over in Iraq.

It appears as though “mission accomplished” in Iraq was not necessarily referring to guarding the Ministry of Oil and occupying the country indefinitely (or finding WMDs, disrupting al-Qaeda, or liberating Iraqis, blah-blah-blah), but to having a military beach-head in the heart of the Middle East.

& Amy Goodman reported this morning that:

In other news, the top US military commander in Iraq has indicated the US may want to hold on to the several military bases it has built in the country. Appearing before a Congressional subcommittee Tuesday, General John Abizaid said the US may want to keep a foothold in Iraq to support regional “moderates” and protect oil supplies.

If the US body count declines, and some troops leave the country (the Murtha plan), how many will fret over stories (also from Democracy Now!) like this:

Meanwhile, a US military attack in the Iraqi town of Balad is being blamed for the deaths of at least a dozen members of the same family. The dead include five children and six women. The Associated Press is reporting the family’s house was flattened by an airstrike from a US helicopter. The victims were wrapped in blankets and driven to the Tikrit General Hospital. Ahmed Khalaf, the brother of one of the victims, said: “The dead family was not part of the resistance, they were women and children. The Americans have promised us a better life, but we get only death.”

Update [2006-3-17 18:37:14 by Arcturus]:

Family Shot In Head

This Reuters story reports that the bodies of the family were discovered with their hands tied behind their backs & that they were shot in the head.

The U.S. military said in a statement its troops had attacked a house in Ishaqi early on Wednesday to capture a “foreign fighter facilitator for the al Qaeda in Iraq network”.

“Troops were engaged by enemy fire as they approached the building,” spokesman Major Tim Keefe said. “Coalition Forces returned fire utilising both air and ground assets . . . Keefe said the al Qaeda suspect had been captured and was being questioned.

Presumably Keefe was never asked about the methods of that “questioning” . . . such an innocent sounding word.

Major Ali Ahmed of the Ishaqi police said U.S. forces had landed on the roof of the house in the early hours and shot the 11 occupants, including the five children.

“After they left the house they blew it up,” he said.

Another policeman, Colonel Farouq Hussein, said autopsies had been carried out at Tikrit hospital and found “all the victims had gunshot wounds to the head”.

The bodies, their hands bound, had been dumped in one room before the house was destroyed, Hussein said. Police had found spent American-issue cartridges in the rubble.

“It’s a clear and perfect crime without any doubt,” he said. {snip}

Ishaqi’s town administrator, Rasheed Shather, said the town was shocked: “Everyone went to the funeral. We want the Americans to give us an explanation for this horrible crime.”

Photographs of the funeral showed men crying as five children, who all looked under the age of five, were wrapped in blankets and then lined up in a row. One man who described himself as a relative said one was just seven months old.

“They killed these innocent children. Are these considered terrorists? Is a seven-month-old child a terrorist?” he said angrily, speaking close to the remains of the house.

Local teacher Faeq Nsaef was also outraged: “”An entire family was killed. It’s a barbarian act.”

Robert Duncan (again):

And men wake to see that they are used like things
     spent in a great potlatch, this Texas barbecue
          of Asia, Africa, and all the Americas,
And the professional military behind him, thinking
     to use him as they thought to use Hitler
     without losing control of their business of war.

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