{"id":14839,"date":"2012-05-01T16:03:59","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T00:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=14839"},"modified":"2012-05-01T16:08:52","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T00:08:52","slug":"empire-in-the-middle-east-in-a-nutshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/01\/empire-in-the-middle-east-in-a-nutshell\/","title":{"rendered":"Empire in the Middle East, in a Nutshell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Piven at al Jazeera<\/a>:<\/p>\n

From an active-duty force of 1.4 million soldiers, the US has deployed\u00a0some\u00a0350,000 troops<\/a>\u00a0to at least\u00a0130 foreign countries<\/a>\u00a0around the world.\u00a0Some are at Cold War-era installations, but\u00a0many are in or near combat zones in the Middle East. At more than\u00a0750 bases<\/a>\u00a0internationally, private contractors and third-country nationals also form a large percentage of the staff, in addition to military reservists and civilian employees of the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

…There were three reasons why the US sought a presence across the Middle East, says Mehran Kamrava,\u00a0Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar:<\/p>\n

“Securing oil resources, guaranteeing the security of the state of Israel and combating threats to American interests” were the initial priorities of US military activity in the region prior to the first Gulf War, Kamrava says.<\/p>\n

Kamrava says US forces “have the ability to project force when needed, by\u00a0intimidating and signalling to potential threats that the US can flex its muscles if necessary … This is a combination of ‘showing the flag’ and practical, logistical issues such as the movement of troops, supplies and services”.<\/p>\n

“So, these bases are not necessarily because of Iran, but certainly Iran has given the US a compelling reason to further the number of bases,” Kamrava told Al Jazeera. “But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Iran is encircled militarily.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n