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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (49197)	10/3/2002 9:19:03 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi CobaltBlue; Re "Big Bull, Nadine and I started connecting the dots around August 10, when the satellite photos of the big base in Qatar were "leaked," and a lot of other info or disinfo was "leaked." The dots connected very well, but not perfectly, to the "facts on the ground."" Maybe I haven't commented on the Qatar news. Here's the BBC version, with my estimations of what the photos show: In pictures: US desert base grows BBC, August 8, 2002 Satellite images have revealed large scale construction work on a huge US base in the Gulf state of Qatar - which could be used in any possible military action against Iraq. [Photo of airfield under construction] January 2002 and signs of construction work at the Al Udeid base are clear [Picture: DigitalGlobe/ Global Security] [Photo shows 9 aircraft on above pictured airfield] June 2002 and tanker planes sit on a newly-completed aircraft parking area [Photo shows four 150' x 350' buildings.] These large buildings are believed to hold tanks and other armoured vehicles [Photo shows ~400 various vehicles] Large numbers of other military vehicles can be seen parked [Photo shows ~300 tents, each about 50' x 25'] This "tent city" is believed to be home to over 3,000 US personnel [Photo shows 500' x 250' concrete building] This large structure is a hardened concrete aircraft shelter [Photo shows six 120' square ammo bunkers] This cluster of concrete "igloos" is believed to house ammunition news.bbc.co.uk You'd think that from the fact that the tent city is said to only hold 3,000 US personnel that you'd have clued in that the base is not significant. If that's not enough, simply go look at the figures again, and verify my estimates. Again. What you've done is take a few photographs and blown them totally out of proportion. So the construction begain in January 2002 is a clue? So now there's nine tankers at Qatar? Let's look at how the US position in Qatar has changed, from before the WTC attack: Our relations with Qatar seem to date back to 1992: DefenseLink, 1996: In 1992, the United States and Qatar signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement allowing U.S. prepositioning of a second heavy brigade set and division base (minus), for which Congress has recently provided phase one construction funding. defenselink.mil DefenseLink, May 1996: ... I'd like to announce that following consultations between the United States and the Government of Qatar, we have decided to deploy our third air power expeditionary force to Qatar. This will be a deployment of 34 aircraft -- 30 fighters and four tankers ... defenselink.mil DefenseLin, August 1996: Pre-positioned armored equipment is in Kuwait, Qatar and afloat in the Persian Gulf, Perry said. defenselink.mil More planes were sent over in 1997: DefenseLink, November 1997: Earlier deployments were to Bahrain (Oct-Dec 1995 and Sep-Oct 1996); Jordan (Apr-Jun 1996); and Qatar (Jun-Aug 1996 and Feb-May 1997). defenselink.mil DefenseLink, June 1998: Contrack International Inc., Arlington, Va., is being awarded a $14,640,921 firm-fixed-price contract, with a cumulative total of $16,199,370 if all options are exercised, for construction of a warehouse at the United States Army base in Doha. Work will be performed in Doha, Qatar, and is expected to be completed by May 30, 2000. defenselink.mil Also see: defenselink.mil defenselink.mil defenselink.mil defenselink.mil defenselink.mil defenselink.mil In other words, nine tankers is only double what was there as early as 1996, and further increases were under negotiation before the WTC. For example: DefenseLink, April 5, 2000 The U.S. Central Command is negotiating with Qatar for rights to use the air base at Al Uedid as a site for a U.S. air expeditionary force, DoD officials said here April 5. ... defenselink.mil In the event of a war with Iraq, tents for 3000 guys just isn't going to hack it. Again, you guys have made a mountain out of a molehill. *The buildup in Qatar has been going on steadily for 10 years now but you never made notice of it until the WTC attack made you hyper sensitive.* -- Carl