Mother Jones has an interesting interactive map of US military presence around the world, or, as Andrew Sullivan labels it: America’s Hegemony Through the Decades. There is only one Arab nation with no US military presence whatsoever, and that’s Libya. As of 2007, the last year data was available, number of troops in Arab nations included:
Iraq: 196,600
Kuwait: 10,000
Djibouti: 2,190
Bahrain: 1,442
Qatar: 419
Egypt: 288
Saudi Arabia: 257
UAE: 89
Oman: 35
Jordan: 29
Tunisia: 15
Morocco: 15
Yemen: 11
Algeria: 9
Syria: 9
Mauritania: 7
You should really zoom in and give each country a read. There is some really interesting information, including “secret activity”.
On Jordan:
A small neighbor to Iraq, Jordan serves as a safe place from which American forces can monitor Iraq activity, and a potential exit route for outgoing forces where battered gear can be stored until it’s cleaned up and sent home…According to several accounts, Jordan helps CIA secret renditions and is home to at least one “ghost prison” so clandestine that President Bush supposedly asked the CIA not to tell him where it was.
On Syria:
Like several other countries the Bush administration claimed to not like, Syria proved helpful in US efforts to fight terrorism on the “dark side.”…Former CIA agent Bob Baer told the New Statesman in 2004, “If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear—never to see them again—you send them to Egypt.”
On Qatar:
The $1.4 billion Al Udeid Air Base has the longest runway (2.8 miles) in the Persian Gulf and was built to accommodate up to 120 aircraft. The base was clearly designed for US forces, given that Qatar’s entire military, which includes an army, navy, and air force, has just 12,000 men and 18 combat aircraft.
I like the fact there’s no comments yet ..
LOL
I think there is a small contingent of special forces in Libya, rumor has it that the previous US Air Base in Libya will be given back as part of Libya’s ‘Rehabilitation into the international community’.
Jordan: 29
now that’s what I call disinformation.
Anon: it’s a taboo subject so it’s to be expected. i also don’t expect those commenting on it to use their real names
PH: interesting.
Bob: well i didn’t make the map. it’s based on pentagon information which I assume is accurate given the other numbers. but, then again, who knows.
Exactly,
I agree with Bob. I was quite surprised regarding the number 29.
I am pretty sure, that the number is much higher! I mean, 29? Come on.
does it count the u.s. marines stationed at the embassy as a “military presence”? every u.s. embassy has a small detachment of marines (just a handful really). i wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where the numbers for countries with 7-15 “troops” comes from.
though i’m not sure whether every country posts military personnel in their embassies,it’s not just the u.s. a lot of countries do. it also makes the mother jones map a little misleading IMHO because really the “white countries” (i.e. countries without any u.s. military personnel) are really just countries that the u.s. lacks diplomatic relations with. even putting aside the ones stationed in embassies, i expect that the u.s. has a lot of military personnel stationed around the world. it would be more useful if they excluded the ones in the embassies (and embassies are technically u.s. soil, so there is a basis for excluding them if MJ wanted to)
Very interesting map. It would be even more interesting to know in which “function” they are operating in each country.
once i was watching a football match with my dad the match was between Brazil and some other country in the Cuopa American league , the Brazilians were very fast and moved around like crazy , he said ” it seems like there are 50 Brazilains in the football feild” he is right.
Let’s not forget civilian contractors, i.e. mercenaries.
The 29 is weird. My friend met 5 of them the other day…
Did you notice the secret blurb for Syria:
Former CIA agent Bob Baer told the New Statesman in 2004, “If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear—never to see them again—you send them to Egypt.”
“defense” sounds like a stand at a front, only what front do you call your own? the only reason when you may operate on other soil then your own, is with permission of the foreign ministery of defense.
witch you dont get whitout pollitical propaganda to aply your dominance even among foreigers home.
the way to peace isnt lead by so- called enforcement in policies, when a few people dicide in shadow what the plans are before even speaking to other (foreign) leaders.
get out of our countries, and leave us be!!!