USAWC (United States Army War College) Military Studies Program Paper. A Southwest Asia Basing Strategy for USCENTCOM.
Abstract
Since President Carter's declaration of U.S. vital interests in the Persian Gulf in his State of the Union Message of 1981, the RDJTF, and more recently USCENTCOM, have pursued forward basing in the Southwest Asian Region. A detailing of these efforts points out the extreme difficulty in meeting each Southwest Asian country's requirements while trying to satisfy a U.S. military strategic goal. Persian Gulf states friendly to the U.S. privately recognize the security value of U.S. military presence, but publicly must maintain distance from a formal policy of accepting such a presence. With the exception of building and upgrading some facilities in Oman for contingency purposes, no significant success in solving the forward basing problem has been made. Six years have passed since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the taking of the American hostages in Iran. During that time, no further deterioration of U.S. strategic interests has occurred in the Persian Gulf. Since forward military basing cannot be given as a reason for a lack of deteriorization, strong argument can be given to retain the status quo arrangement. Valid U.S. contingency interests can be served by planning to occupy 'overbuilt' and existing facilities in the States of this region during and emergency. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 07, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA166784
Entities
People
- Leo M. Laska
Organizations
- United States Army War College