Did Bush Lie To Chris Wallace?

On permanent bases in Iraq:

And we won’t have permanent bases. I do believe it is in our interests, and the interests of the Iraqi people that we do enter into an agreement on how we are going to conduct ourselves over the next years.

Here’s the full transcript.

But this is just the swimming pool at Balad Air Base, part of a project costing $1 billion that they’re wording as “long-term access”.

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq – The concrete goes on forever, vanishing into the noonday glare, 2 million cubic feet of it, a mile-long slab that’s now the home of up to 120 U.S. helicopters, a “heli-park” as good as any back in the States.

At another giant base, al-Asad in Iraq’s western desert, the 17,000 troops and workers come and go in a kind of bustling American town, with a Burger King, Pizza Hut and a car dealership, stop signs, traffic regulations and young bikers clogging the roads.

At a third hub down south, Tallil, they’re planning a new mess hall, one that will seat 6,000 hungry airmen and soldiers for chow.

…U.S. officials disavow any desire for permanent bases. But long-term access, as at other U.S. bases abroad, is different from “permanent,” and the official U.S. position is carefully worded.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.