 A big, front page
headline in the New York Times this morning declared that
the U.S. will be in Iraq until -- ready for this: 2009! For
anyone who's shocked by that, I've got some really, really
bad news for you: the Real Story is that we're planning to
be in Iraq a LOT longer than that.I'd like to
introduce you to our new American embassy in Baghdad. When
it's completed in the next couple of months, it will
encompass 27 buildings on 104 acres. That's about
two-thirds the size of the National Mall in Washington and
the same size as the Vatican.
But wait, there's more! It will house over a thousand
people, have its own pool, rec center, food court, a cozy
16,00 square foot apartment for our ambassador and its own
water and electricity supply because, you know, that Iraqi
infrastructure isn't all that reliable. It will also have
the distinct honor of being the largest U.S. embassy
anywhere on planet Earth.
But hey, if this were just about dropping another $600
million in Iraq then I wouldn't even be telling you about
it...but it's not; there's also the matter of Balad Air
Force Base about 40 miles north of Baghdad. With 20,000
troops, 15 square miles of space and over 27,000 takeoffs
and landings a month, Balad's air traffic is on par with
that of most major U.S. cities and it's likely to become one
of four "superbases" where all U.S. forces will consolidate
once they're off the front lines.
They say you can measure someone's true intentions not by
what they say, but what they do, and when it comes to Iraq,
our actions are speaking a heck of a lot louder than our
words. A few months back, when those artist renderings of
the base you saw earlier first became public, the government
asked that they not be shown. They said it was for security
reasons, but I think it's really because they prove the
truth: Like Germany and the Philippines, being in Iraq is in
our long-term strategic interests and we have no intention
of ever leaving.
|
|
Research Articles
Show Transcript
Send us Your Real Stories!
If
you've seen a news story lately and thought to yourself that
the media has it all wrong, we want to hear from you! Send
us the story you saw, along with what you think the Real
Story should be, by filling out the form below.
|
