U.S. bases in Iraq

Providence Journal: The United States seems to be building permanent bases in Iraq, thus leading to speculation that U.S. troops will be there a long, long time.
President Bush has promised to remove U.S. forces just as soon as the Iraqis can provide for their own security. But the size and solidity of U.S. installations (including the U.S. Embassy) already constructed, and others being built, strongly suggest that America plans a long-term and powerful presence in the country.
Whether or not this is true, the impression that it is may well undermine U.S. credibility and encourage the Iraqi insurgency.
While common sense and military security militate against setting a timetable for a U.S. exit, the Iraqis must be convinced that the United States plans no permanent military presence. Meantime, as U.S. bases are expanded and hardened, much of Iraq's civil infrastructure -- water, electricity, public health, schools -- remains in bad shape. The situation compounds the anti-Americanism that arose after saboteurs were able to do immense damage to the infrastructure, which continue to do.
American forces must devote much more attention to basic infrastructure that benefits the Iraqi public. Indeed, only a small percentage of the money earmarked for civil reconstruction has gone to meeting this need. With the accompanying unemployment, this explains some (though far from all) of the force of the insurgency.
Thus, many Iraqis have decided that the Americans are interested only in having a military force in the region -- in order to protect the oil. In fact, there is much humanitarianism in the American presence in Iraq. But some U.S. actions, such as the building of permanent-seeming bases, encourage Iraqis to forget this.