{"id":26387,"date":"2007-07-30T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T05:10:23","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T05:10:23","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T05:10:23","slug":"balad_air_base_here_to_stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Balad Air Base Here to Stay?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: Rob in Greenville, South Carolina, you\u2019re next. Great to have you with us here.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Rush, second-time caller dittos. Again, it\u2019s my honor.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Rush, all this talk about leaving Iraq is political positioning, as you\u2019ve spoken to, and it\u2019s simultaneously in complete opposition to two facts on the ground I\u2019d like to point out. First, we have been building one of the largest military bases in the world, 43 miles north of Baghdad, a\/k\/a Balad Air Base, or it\u2019s also referred to as Area Anaconda. Newsweek reported that there are 27, 500 landings a month at that base, which makes it only second to Heathrow as an air base in the world. Second, we\u2019re simultaneously building the largest embassy in the world with a price tag that has been reported in the neighborhood of $800 billion. So my point is simply this. No matter what anybody says, these two things point out we\u2019re not going anywhere. And all this talk about leaving is not real; it\u2019s simply political talk, as you\u2019ve pointed out, we\u2019re positioning people in the public for the \u201908 election. It\u2019s not reality.<\/p>\n

RUSH: No, it\u2019s not reality, but even if the Democrats win the White House, they\u2019re not pulling us out of there. I\u2019ve said that. Not if it means defeat. They\u2019re not going to have defeat saddled on their shoulders. I hadn\u2019t heard about this base. You said this is in Newsweek?<\/p>\n

CALLER: It is in Newsweek. I believe it was actually last month, Balad Air Base, and they reported —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait. Is this a permanent air base? Because I think there are some arguments going on, the Democrats are trying to argue against any permanent base there. We haven\u2019t started building a permanent base in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan people want us to. They\u2019re making big lobbying efforts, unless I\u2019m, you know, behind on this.<\/p>\n

CALLER: No, that\u2019s part of the point of my message, Rush, is that this base, which has basically been being built 43 miles northwest of Baghdad, it\u2019s 15 square miles in size. And as reported in Newsweek, it is the second busiest air base in the world, second only to Heathrow.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, but Heathrow is not an air base, you\u2019re just talking about general landings —<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m talking about the number of landings per month, one landing every two minutes. And as you know, I mean you\u2019re not exactly landing in Baghdad for the tourism.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, yeah, but Baghdad International Airport is still around.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah, but I mean that\u2019s Baghdad International Airport. That\u2019s not this airport.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I know. But you\u2019re not landing at this place for tourism, either.<\/p>\n

CALLER: No, that\u2019s my point, 27, 500 landings a month, one landings every two minutes, you don\u2019t hear the media talking about the size of the footprint we have put down.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, but you just did, you said Newsweek has reported this.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, no, yes, I agree with that. I mean in the broader picture, as you just said, you\u2019re a little bit behind.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, that\u2019s because I don\u2019t waste my time with the news magazines. I really don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. No, I didn\u2019t know about this until this weekend. I started reading about it —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Why? Because I actually got an e-mail through a friend that I work with, who is an ex-West Pointer, and he mentioned this air base, which I had never heard of.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, all right, I\u2019m going to send the research time out and try to find this. Newsweek is hard to come by these days. There aren\u2019t that many copies published anymore, but we\u2019ll see if we can find one somewhere, and I want to read this for myself. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t trust you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: No. Don\u2019t. Don\u2019t. Again, I\u2019m reporting what I\u2019m reading, so —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I know, but you are a rank amateur, and I\u2019m a highly trained specialist. I gotta learn this stuff for myself.<\/p>\n

CALLER: This is true.<\/p>\n

RUSH: So — (Laughing.)<\/p>\n

CALLER: I am willing to take the title of rank amateur.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, but it could prove that you are going to end up being a first-rate reporter here and rise above your rank amateur status. We all have to sometimes rise above principle.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That ought to be good for a Gitmo T-shirt then, if I\u2019m right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: If you\u2019re right. Okay. You know you\u2019re right. Well, you think you are. Tell you what, Snerdley get his address, I got cornered into this. Don\u2019t hang up out there — <\/p>\n

CALLER: All right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: — Rob, and we\u2019ll get an address to send the Gitmo T-shirt and maybe a mug. You never know what else. Thanks much. 27,500 landings in a month, every two minutes. We\u2019ll have to find it. It\u2019s the first I\u2019ve heard of this. My awareness is that people have been arguing against the establishment of a permanent base there, the Democrats have, so very rarely is your host shocked and surprised. This may be one of those rare moments.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, Rob was right. He almost had it word-for-word, verbatim from the Newsweek story. It\u2019s April 23rd of 2006. It is 15 months old, this story. ‘Balad Air Base in Iraq Evidence That U.S. Planning to Stay For a Long Time; 15-Square-Mile Mini-City One of Four ‘Superbases\u2019 Where The Pentagon Will Consolidate U.S. Forces — New $592 Million ‘Massive\u2019 U.S. Embassy Being Built in Baghdad — In-depth coverage,\u2019 it says here. ‘Despite all the political debate in Washington about a quick U.S. pullout from Iraq, the vast Balad Air Base, a 15-square-mile mini-city of thousands of trailers and vehicle depots located 43 miles north of Baghdad, is hard evidence that the Pentagon is planning to stay in Iraq for a long time-at least a decade or so, according to military strategists. With 27,500 landings and takeoffs a month, Balad is second only to London\u2019s Heathrow Airport in traffic worldwide, Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, the base commander, tells Newsweek Senior Editor Michael Hirsh in the current issue. In an interview with Newsweek, Gorenc said he\u2019s ‘normalizing\u2019 the giant Balad airfield, or gradually rebuilding it to U.S. military specs. The Saddam-era concrete is considered too substandard for the F-16s, C-130s and other aircraft that fly in and out so regularly they crack the tarmac. ‘It\u2019s safe to say Balad will be here for a long time,\u2019 says Gorenc, who feels at home in Iraqi skies,\u2019 because we own the airspace. We own it! <\/p>\n

You can talk about the insurgents and Al-Qaeda, but whoever owns the airspace over a country owns the country, and he said the United States owns the airspace. So, yeah. I don\u2019t know how I missed this. It was in Newsweek, and nobody picked it up. Well, ten years is certainly not getting out tomorrow. Ten years is certainly not getting out in \u201908. Ten years may not be permanent, but the Drive-Bys knew this. It just went against the template that Bush lied. Bush is failing. We\u2019re losing. We gotta get out of there. You know, oftentimes in this program, we theorize, ‘Why the bad mood here? Why the angst if it exists,\u2019 and everybody chalks it up to, ‘It\u2019s just Iraq. We\u2019re losing, and we\u2019re the US, and we\u2019re winners. We\u2019re losing.\u2019 <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Martinsburg, West Virginia, this is Nate. Great that you called, sir. Welcome to the program.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I really appreciate you taking my call, Rush.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You bet, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I wanted to call and let you know about my experience at Balad Air Base.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yes?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay. I can\u2019t say that I disagree with the Newsweek article now because I worked for General Gorenc while I was there. I was assigned to finance under his command — <\/p>\n

RUSH: Yes?<\/p>\n

CALLER: — in the fall of \u201905.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yes?<\/p>\n

CALLER: But what I told your call screener and what I want your audience to know, is that Congress had so much stipulations on the money being spent to build up that base as to make it more of a commercial airport than a footprint for soldiers and airmen to have a long-term presence there, and my example I gave the call screener is, we wanted hard billeting, concrete dormatories for the troops there, okay? Congress had made stipulations that there was to be no hardened structures like that, no permanent presence. So we had to buy these lousy trailers that are nice because they\u2019re air-conditioned, but that base is mortared on a daily basis. So here we are in these trailers that are no different than a travel trailer that you would set up in the woods of West Virginia, you know what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And mortars come in, and there\u2019s very little protection from that, and that\u2019s all because the US is trying to minimize its footprint there. And when we leave, Congress wanted us to be able to tear up everything that we had put down and take it with us, including our dormitories that we are staying in.<\/p>\n

RUSH: What about the idea that it\u2019s being built to last for ten years to house people like you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Negative. No. General Gorenc said it to Newsweek, so he would know more than I had, but I would say that what the idea there is that there would be a minimal military presence there and the whole base, every expenditure on the Air Force — I can\u2019t speak for how the Army was spending their money there — but every expenditure was under close scrutiny by my boss, who is the wing comptroller as to whether or not —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, what\u2019s it going to be used for when we leave?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I guess the whole idea was that it would be a commercial airport.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Are the statistics about 27,000 landings and takeoffs a month accurate?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Doing the math, if they\u2019re saying 27,000 a month, did I hear that correctly?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, 27, 500 landings and takeoffs a month, second only to Heathrow. Who\u2019s going in there?<\/p>\n

CALLER: There\u2019s no way. There\u2019s absolutely no way. From what I saw sitting out on the runway, every single day we\u2019d have the US military. You know, we have our C-5s or C-130s coming in and out; we had permanent F-16s stationed at that base.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, it says that here.<\/p>\n

CALLER: But there was maybe like one Russian airline coming in. You\u2019d see a white jet sitting out there, every once and a while. We\u2019re talking about —<\/p>\n

RUSH: You had commercial traffic at this base?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You\u2019d almost have to, for that kind of activity, for that many planes.<\/p>\n

CALLER: There\u2019s no way, unless they\u2019re counting each time a drone takes off, but even then, you\u2019d see those go out maybe two or three times a day. I mean, if we\u2019re… There\u2019s just no way, because the Air Force, our billeting was right next to the flight line.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: We wouldn\u2019t get any sleep. We wouldn\u2019t get any work done if we were sending out 27,000 flights a day. It would be impossible. We\u2019d have to have 40,000 airmen there, and there\u2019s only two runways at that base. It\u2019s just not possible. So maybe they were wrong on that figure, and General Gorenc has since set them straight on it, but I\u2019ll tell you, we\u2019re not setting up a permanent military footprint there, or at least if we are it\u2019s being done in such a haphazard way as we\u2019re going to be replacing these trailers every five or ten years.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s what surprised me about the call because I am familiar with this. It\u2019s a sticking point in the Democrats. They want out of there. They don\u2019t want us anywhere near there. You know, any time a discussion comes up about, ‘Hey, we need a permanent base there, to protect our interests, like we had permanent base in Germany,\u2019 I\u2019ve always heard they\u2019re opposing it left and right. This piece in Newsweek makes it sound like all this is just for show, that we got a permanent footprint being built there — well, ‘permanent,\u2019 ten years. Look, I\u2019m glad you called out there, Nate. I appreciate it. The water is a little cloudier now, requiring further research from us here at the EIB Network. That\u2019s our specialty. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Rob in Greenville, South Carolina, you\u2019re next. Great to have you with us here. CALLER: Rush, second-time caller dittos. Again, it\u2019s my honor. RUSH: Thank you. CALLER: Rush, all this talk about leaving Iraq is political positioning, as you\u2019ve spoken to, and it\u2019s simultaneously in complete opposition to two facts on the ground I\u2019d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBalad Air Base Here to Stay? - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Balad Air Base Here to Stay? - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: Rob in Greenville, South Carolina, you\u2019re next. Great to have you with us here. CALLER: Rush, second-time caller dittos. Again, it\u2019s my honor. RUSH: Thank you. CALLER: Rush, all this talk about leaving Iraq is political positioning, as you\u2019ve spoken to, and it\u2019s simultaneously in complete opposition to two facts on the ground I\u2019d […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/\",\"name\":\"Balad Air Base Here to Stay? - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-19T05:10:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-19T05:10:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Balad Air Base Here to Stay?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Balad Air Base Here to Stay? - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Balad Air Base Here to Stay? - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: Rob in Greenville, South Carolina, you\u2019re next. Great to have you with us here. CALLER: Rush, second-time caller dittos. Again, it\u2019s my honor. RUSH: Thank you. CALLER: Rush, all this talk about leaving Iraq is political positioning, as you\u2019ve spoken to, and it\u2019s simultaneously in complete opposition to two facts on the ground I\u2019d […]","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/","name":"Balad Air Base Here to Stay? - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-19T05:10:23+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-19T05:10:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/07\/30\/balad_air_base_here_to_stay\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Balad Air Base Here to Stay?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}