The goal is perminant bases in the middle east

ZNet |Iraq | Iraq: What Went Wrong? : "The occupation authority, called the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) despite the fact that the US rulers even ignore the opinions of their British 'Coalition partners,' says its only purpose is to create a free Iraq and return sovereignty. They deny plans for any permanent occupation, though US generals keep on upping the length of time US troops will 'have to stay' in Iraq. Meanwhile, 4, or is it 14, permanent military bases are being constructed.53, 54 Very few articles have occurred in the mainstream US press on the construction of these permanent bases. To replace a prewar army of perhaps 400,000, which fought a many years war with neighboring Iran, the US proposes to create, over a number of years, a new Iraqi army of 35,000. This new army will have no tanks, no heavy artillery55, no air force to defend a country that is surrounded by countries -– Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -– with whom there has either been recent conflict or who have territorial or other conflicts with Iraq. Iraqis wonder how a lightly armed army of 35,000 is supposed to defend their country, were the Americans ever to leave. The first US ruler of Iraq, Jay Garner, compares the US presence in Iraq to the century-long US presence in the Philippines:


 


'Noting how establishing U.S. naval bases in the Philippines in the early 1900s allowed the United States to maintain a 'great presence in the Pacific.' Garner said. 'To me that's what Iraq is for the next few decades. We ought to have something there ... that gives us great presence in the Middle East. I think that's going to be necessary.'' - A. S. Klamper. "Former Iraq administrator sees decades-long U.S. military presence." CongressDaily. Feb. 6, 2004.