US military expansion in the Middle East - A US air base to be built in Lebanon?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1434183,00.html

Seumas Milne wrote in the Guardian, 10 March 2005, about the Middle East.

In Beirut up to a million demonstrators demonstrated in favour of Syria and against the USA.

One leader of the anti-Syrian protests is Pierre Gemayel whose militiamen massacred 2,000 Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shatila in 1982.

If there was a democratic election, Gemayel and his friends would be defeated by a Hizbullah-led government. Hizbullah drove Israel out of Lebanon in 2000.

Democratic elections in Syria, or Egypt or Saudi Arabia could lead to the election of strongly anti-western governments.

Milne, in the Guardian, points out that it is not democracy, but the US military, that is on the march.

1. Millions of Iraqis were unable or unwilling to vote.
2. Key political forces were excluded.
3. Candidates' names were secret.
4. Alleged fraud widespread.
5. The system was designed to maintain US control.

The Americans now have a military presence in:
1. Saudi Arabia,
2. Iraq,
3. the UAE,
4. Kuwait,
5. Bahrain,
6. Oman and Qatar

"In not one of those countries did an elected government invite them in....The dictators remain in place by US licence."

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http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/031105Madsen/031105madsen.html

Wayne Madsen, of Online Journal, writes that, according to high-level Lebanese intelligence sources, the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was reportedly authorized by the USA and Israel.

Hariri reportedly opposed the construction of a major U.S. air base in the north of Lebanon.

"The United States wants Syrian troops completely out of Lebanon before construction of the base is initiated."

Lebanese intelligence sources claim that the contract for the northern Lebanese air base has been given to Jacobs Engineering Group of Pasadena, California; Bechtel will also be involved.

The Lebanese air base is reportedly to be used
1. as a transit and logistics hub for U.S. forces in Iraq
2. as a rest and relaxation location for U.S. troops in the region.
3. to protect U.S. oil pipelines in the region (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Mosul/Kirkuk-Ceyhan)
4. to destabilize the Assad government in Syria.