Vol. 75/No. 44      December 5, 2011

As of November 16, there were 33,000 troops in Iraq, down from 165,000. The number of bases to be emptied by December 31 was down to 12, from a peak of 505 at the height of the U.S. occupation three years ago. According to the November 21 Army Times, some 55 convoys involving up to 1,650 trucks at any given time are transporting military equipment across the Iraqi border to Kuwait for shipment.

Obama’s announcement registered Washington’s shift in focus from Iraq and Afghanistan toward China, as well as moves to reduce military spending under the pressure of a deepening economic crisis at home. The administration announced cuts of at least $450 billion over the next 10 years in the military budget.

Washington has been working for months at redeploying some of its military forces and weapons in Iraq to other bases in the area.

The unpopularity of the Pentagon’s plan to put an additional 3,500 to 4,000 U.S. troops in Kuwait came to the fore when, according to a November 7 Associated Press dispatch, Sheik Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah, Kuwait’s defense minister, denied any such plan.

There are currently some 23,000 U.S. troops in Kuwait and some 16,000 as part of the Fifth Fleet stationed in Bahrain and on surrounding waters. In 2010 the Navy announced it planned to double the size of its base there. The U.S. has Patriot missile systems deployed in several countries of the region.

Washington is also strengthening its economic and military collaboration with the Gulf Cooperation Council aimed at building a buffer against Iran’s growing influence in the region. The GCC comprises monarchial allies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.

Seizing on a recent U.N. report presenting evidence that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons technology, Washington, London and Ottawa announced November 21 coordinated sanctions aimed at shutting down Iran’s access to foreign banks and credit. The U.S. government also imposed sanctions on companies involved in Iran’s nuclear industry, as well as on its petrochemical and oil industries. These aggressive moves add to a series of other sanctions by the U.N. and Washington’s imperialist allies.

Since mid-October, the U.S. government has deployed four Predator drones previously stationed in Iraq to the joint U.S.-Turkey Incirlik air base in southern Turkey. Washington also announced the sale to Ankara of three Super Cobra attack helicopters and parts.

These weapons will be used by Ankara in its two-decade war against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) across its border with Iraq. The PKK is fighting for the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region and more cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey.

In Iraq, the rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops has led in recent weeks to sharpening conflicts between the Shiite-dominated central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, an autonomous administration in northern Iraq, over a major oil deal with U.S.-based Exxon Mobil and control of an air base U.S. forces are planning to abandon.

At the same time, the Iraqi government has arrested about 800 Sunnis across the country charging them with being part of a conspiracy by supporters of the banned Baath party of former President Saddam Hussein. In September it dismissed 145 Sunni employees of Salahudin University in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, for being former Baathists.
 
 
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