Assessing the Emerging US Military Basing Posture in the Mideast

<p>As the 2011 withdrawal of US forces from Iraq approaches the United States faces an opportunity to diversify and reset aspects of its force posture in the Mideast in order to best contain a belligerent Iran and shape the political forces that would expel it from the region. Concurrently Iran has made significant progress in pursuing a strategy built upon anti-access and area-denial military threats which will threaten the future US' ability to project power using land-based aircraft in the region. The paper examines whether a robust US military basing posture which provides such a potent cause celebre for certain Islamist audiences can be nuanced as presence without permanence while still serving as an effective foundation for protection of US interests in the region. Using a risk management framework and exploring methods for hedging against strategic uncertainty the paper argues that significant investment will be required to adequately defend forces in the region and that the US leadership will need to accept a higher level of risk for deployed units than has been customary. It concludes that by diversifying its basing options the US is fundamentally on the right course in pursuit of operational flexibility and strategic posturing.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>