U.S. to build base at Iraq-Iran border, establish checkpoints on Iraq-Iran highways

Above: A fortress on the Iraq-Iran border is one of several dating back to the Iraq-Iran war.

Pentagon planning base near Iraq-Iran border-report

The Pentagon is preparing to build a military base near the Iraq-Iran border to try to curtail the flow of advanced Iranian weaponry to Shiite militants across Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday in its online edition.

Quoting Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, the Journal said the Pentagon also plans to build fortified checkpoints on major highways leading from the Iranian border to Baghdad, and install X-ray machines and explosives-detecting sensors at the only formal border crossing between the two countries.

The base will be located about four miles from the Iranian border and will be used for at least two years, according to the report. U.S. officials told the paper it is unclear whether it will be among the small number of facilities that would remain in Iraq after any future large-scale U.S. withdrawal.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

US to build military base on Iraq-Iran border

The US military said on Monday that it is to build a base on Iraq’s border with Iran to stem what it charges is rampant smuggling of weapons and fighters.

The base, which the military describes as a ‘life support area’, will be set up near the headquarters of the Department of Border Enforcement in Badrah, in the central province of Wasit.

The province, currently the theatre of a massive US-led military crackdown targeting Shia militiamen allegedly involved in weapons smuggling, shares a 200 kilometre (125 mile) border with Iran.

It said the base is ‘not really permanent, although it will be manned 24/7 and will be used for as long as necessary.’

The base will also accommodate some of the 2,000 Georgian soldiers being deployed in the province to staff new checkpoints being set up to control the border, the military said.

Read the rest at Khaleej Times

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