the base now houses 30,000 American troops as well as perhaps another 10,000 private contractors. It has well-fortified Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Subway fast-food outlets, two PXs that are as big as K-Marts, and actual sidewalks

"The base is one giant construction project, with new roads, sidewalks, and structures going up across this 16-square-mile fortress in the center of Iraq, all with an eye toward the next few decades... At the base, the sounds of construction and the hum of generators seem to follow visitors everywhere. Seen from the sky at night, the base resembles Las Vegas: While the surrounding Iraqi villages get about 10 hours of electricity a day, the lights never go out at Balad Air Base."

Staggering billions, for instance, have gone into those state-of-the-art mega-bases in Iraq

No matter what anyone was saying in Washington at any moment, they spoke of permanence,

yet the Iraq debate in the mainstream these last years has taken place almost without serious mention of them