George Bush's America expands its military presence across the globe
From Suez to Pacific
By Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Today, almost six months after the attacks on New York and Washington,
the US is putting in place a network of forward bases stretching from the
Middle East across the entire length of Asia, from the Red Sea to the Pacific.
US forces are active in the biggest array of countries since the second
world war. Troops, sailors and airmen are now established in countries
where they have never before had a presence. The aim is to provide platforms
from which to launch attacks on any group perceived by George Bush to be
a danger to the US.
Forward bases are rapidly multiplying. Washington announced the establishment
of yet another base in Central Asia, a region where before September 11
there was no US presence. The new base will be at Manas in Kyrgystan.
Until recently, US troops in that country would have been unthinkable,
both as a former part of the Soviet Union and also close to the Chinese
border. The base will have 3,000 personnel - troops, communications specialists
and technical support - and combat aircraft. According to defence analysts,
the intention is to have a host of such forward bases that can provide
support for huge reinforcements as required. These bases are being built
in or near any country that Mr Bush decides constitutes "a clear and present
danger".
Tim Garden, an associate fellow of the London-based Royal Institute
of International Affairs, said yesterday: "Everyone was expecting, when
the Bush administration came in, that it would see America draw into itself
and concentrate on long-range capability and reducing its presence on the
ground.
"Instead, they are looking at forward basing in lots of areas that may
be of use to them for operations in the future."
The long and growing list of bases underlines the extent to which the
US has shifted from the "Black Hawk Down" era, when the ugly scenes that
accompanied the killing of US soldiers in Somalia in 1993 so scarred the
American psyche that the then president, Bill Clinton, vowed never again
to commit ground troops abroad if there was any chance of them sustaining
casualties.
In support of US forces fighting in Afghanistan, the US has established
bases, each manned by 3,000 troops, in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. US troops
are also stationed in Pakistan, close both to the Afghan and Iranian borders.
The US administration says publicly that it will leave the Central Asian
bases after the "war on terrorism" is over but privately officials admit
they are there to stay.
As well as bases, the US is sending in military advisers to a host of
countries. In another move into the former Soviet empire, the US announced
last week that it was to send to Georgia up to 200 advisers plus Huey helicopters
to help battle elements of al-Qaida as well as Chechen rebels. The US,
in its hunt for al-Qaida fighters, has been patrolling the waters that
encompass Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. US special forces are believed to
be in Sudan working with opposition groups from Somalia, gathering information
about possible al-Qaida supporters.
In the Philippines, 660 US soldiers are helping to train and equip 3,800
Filipino soldiers in the fight against Islamist rebels, the Abu Sayyaf
group, in the mountainous island of Basilan.
Ivo Daadler, an international affairs specialist at the Brookings Institute
in Washington, disputed that Mr Bush had ever been isolationist. He said
Mr Bush was opposed only to the kind of humanitarian interventionism of
the Clinton administration in places such as the Balkans, Haiti and Somalia,
but not to intervention in what Mr Bush regarded as America's interest.
Like the cold war, he predicted the war will last for years, if not decades,
and will be "all-consuming".
There will be further bases if Mr Bush resorts to force to implement
the policy decision to remove the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. The
build-up of US forces in the Middle East will dwarf the 50,000 US servicemen
at present operating between the Red Sea and the Philippines. Saudi Arabia,
already keen to see the US pull out of its existing bases in the kingdom,
is unlikely to allow the US to launch an attack on Iraq from its territory.
Instead, the US will have to look elsewhere, to Kuwait and Turkey. – The
Guardian, London |