http://www.asiaone.com/Travel/News/Story/A...0804-80473.html
WANT to play a game of golf, catch a movie, grab a burger or go shopping?
At some US army bases in Iraq, you can do just that.
Golf courses, cinemas, fast-food outlets, shopping malls are just some of the comforts of home that US soldiers enjoy there said a report by the Global Policy Forum (GPF) last year.
The GPF is a non-profit organisation which has consultative status at the United Nations.
When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, its forces stayed in tents and trailers.
But a year later, they gave way to more permanent living quarters equipped with their own roads and aircraft storage facilities.
While most US army bases have since been closed or handed over to the Iraqi authorities, about 55 bases still dot the Iraqi landscape.
Among them, five stand out - al-Balad (aka Camp Anaconda), al-Talil, al-Asad, al-Qayyara and Camp Victory.
Each of these bases is air-conditioned and has its own airfields which can house fighter planes, helicopters and transport planes, the GPF report said.
But that's not all.
You can find a mini-America with all the modern conveniences and amenities inside some of these camps.
Take Camp Victory, the headquarters for the US military in Iraq and located near the Baghdad International Airport, for instance.
The base was converted from the Al-Faw Palace that was commisioned by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to commemorate Iraq's retaking of the Al Faw Peninsula during the Iran-Iraq war.
It has a 230-km triathlon course (equivalent to running a marathon six times), a gymnasium complex and Iraq's largest US military department store.
According to an AP report in May 2006, a beauty parlour provides manicures and contractors pick up the soldiers' dry-cleaning.
'Camp Victory is the place where dreams are made,' said Specialist Paul Gober, an Illinois National Guardsman from Chicago, shortly before he went for a swim.
Another soldier said as he toweled himself dry: 'Taking a swim. Surfing the Internet. And I'm getting paid for this?'
Over at the al-Balad base, located 110km north of Baghdad, there's a miniature golf course, two department stores, a 24-hour Burger King outlet, a Pizza Hut restaurant, Baskin Robbins ice-cream outlets, and other fast-food outlets.
And at the al-Asad base, which is 180km west of Baghdad, apart from fast-food outlets, there's also a football field, a Hertz rental car office, an Internet cafe, an indoor swimming pool and a cinema.
But who's building all these luxurious facilities?
Well, each base houses thousands of private construction crews and contract workers, many of whom come from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
US soldiers in Iraq also get excellent medical care, satellite Internet access, cable TV and international phone service.
And these luxuries don't come cheap.
The GPF report said it cost at least US$285million ($390m) in 'emergency funds' to build the al-Balad base.
For the al-Talil base, US$110m was budgeted last year. The al-Asad base is said to have spent US$46m to improve its security, lighting and to upgrade its air traffic control capabilities.
But reports from the US Congressional Research Service said it is hard to trace the where the money comes from due to the lack of financial transparency within the US government.
The report also said the Pentagon uses specially-budgeted construction money and money from current operations to build the bases.
CONCERN
The size of the bases has also led to some concern among analysts and Congressmen, who believe US forces plan to have a permanent presence in Iraq instead of eventually handing over control to Iraqi authorities.
But the US government has denied the allegations.
In 2004, as part of the plan to reduce the number of US troops sent to Iraq, then-US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld had outsourced military contracts to private contractors.
The Iraq war contracts also included Iraqi government projects like building oil and water pipelines, hospitals and a police academy.
But while the US bases were built on schedule and followed specifications, the Iraqi projects were mostly delayed or suffered from poor workmanship, GPF said.
For instance, the police academy, which was completed last year, could not be used - its plumbing was so bad that faeces dripped down on the trainees.