Is the Era of US Military Bases in the Middle East Over?

From CENTCOM commanders to Elliott Abrams, calls are growing to rethink US bases in the Middle East. Ending the war should include closing those bases.

By David Vine, The Nation

Their names were James Feehan, Isabella Gonzales, Michael Emmanuel Swinton, and Angel S. Rampersad. The four US soldiers, one just 19, were killed amid President Donald Trump’s recent escalation of the war on Iran. Their deaths at US military bases in Jordan and Iraq highlight the vulnerability of US troops across the Middle East.

Since the illegal war’s first days, US bases have suffered extensive damage from Iranian retaliation. The losses include 18 US military deaths, dozens killed in host nations, and billions in infrastructure costs. This damage and the limited military utility of US installations are forcing a much-needed reconsideration of the US military presence in the Middle East. A growing consensus finds that dramatic changes are needed.

The result will almost certainly be the end of the nearly half-century-long era when scores of US bases have occupied the Middle East. The sooner US leaders accept this reality and start moving the military out of the region, the safer our nation, our troops, and our world will be.

US bases began dotting the Middle East around 1980 when Presidents Jimmy Carter and, after, Ronald Reagan started building installations in response to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and Iran’s 1979 revolution. More appeared during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2001 and 2003 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They remained long after original rationales disappeared. Today, the military has at least 80 installations in almost every country across the region.

The Iranian military has attacked most countries hosting US bases because they’ve helped enable the US/Israeli war. In addition to the human toll, damage to military infrastructure and hardware runs into the tens of billions of dollars.

US troops have been so vulnerable that military leaders moved many to local hotels and offices, likely violating the laws of war. Iran has made many Middle East installations “all but uninhabitable,” reports The New York Times.

Calls for Change

Many, including former military leaders, are urging change. Current infrastructure “has become an anachronism that endangers US troops,” writes one of the architects of US Middle East basing, former high-ranking George W. Bush and Trump 1.0 administration official Elliott Abrams.

Some want to “harden” installations by improving their ability to survive attacks. Others want to “disperse” troops to more locations, especially those farther from Iran, including Israel.