U.S. Eyes North African Air Base -- Eritrea has pros, cons as U.S. base

USA Today / AP ^ | 11/24/2002 | Andrew England

[ex-Texan]

ASSAB, Eritrea

[ex-Texan]

CIA Background Research on Eritrea

There is a funny photo of a camel being used by USA Today. I tried to post a links but it disappeared from the Front Page ....

[cmsgop]

Eritrea ?

Sounds Like a Medical Procedure....

[Dallas]

It looks perfect....

[Dallas]

[Dog Gone]

This isn't really on my list of "must see" places. It might have some military use, though.

[pepsionice]

What does this add up...its within hours of any hotspot in the middle east...Eritrea is pro-US and expects a great deal of cash to flow (via hand-outs or via construction)...it puts their neighbors in a tight position because Eritrea can always call Uncle Sam to save the day...the cost of running an operation is peanuts...its on the water, with one of the largetst potential ports in the entire region...the air force could operate a recon point easily from this country...it puts Saudi Arabia in a awkward position because the US can eventually tell them to 'dance in the sand', if they don't like the US position on something...and finally, its the middle point of any hostile region either Israel, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan or Pakistan.

[Dallas]

There's a Disney theme park right outside of Nak'fa.

[Dog Gone]

I heard that it is a W'allah World.

[Dallas]

Did you check out all the goodies via the CIA information link ?

Natural resources: Definition Field Listing
gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish.

It's not very often we get a shot at nailing down a new "fish" supply ?..LOL

[Dallas]

LMAO.

[SkyPilot]

I flew in there several years ago. It was a wastehole then as well.

We delivered a bunch of (very brave) Army guys who went there to de-mine the countryside. Eritrea had more landmines per square inch than Hillary has hairs on her legs (that's a lot of mines).

[FreedomPoster]

Disney's Islamic Paradise, complete with 72 virgins?

Not keen on seeing us getting involved with another Islamic he!!hole.

[dts32041]

Still think after the whooting stops, the US is going to have a nice new base located in Irag, and Germany will have so places to put their guest workers.

We would need to keep the K town logistics area, with one other air base, plus a forward deployed brigade and support probably around N burg but Stuggart Neu Ulm would serve also.

[Rebelbase]

This area is a maritime haven for piracy. It will be intersting to see if the U.S. prescence curbs the rate of piracy in the Gulf of Aden/Red Sea area.

Weekly Pirate Reports: "07 Nov. 2002 at 0001 UTC in position: 12:22N - 054:45E, Gulf of Aden. Pirates armed with knives boarded bulk carrier underway from boat -- ransacked master's cabin, held him hostage --demanded money & safe key. When master refused, they beat him up severely until unconscious. Master received extensive injuries & his speech became impaired. Pirates stole US$33,028 from ship's safe & personal property -- escaped. (HKG Fri. Nov. 15 2002)"

[Alas Babylon!]

Hmmmmmm.... The Dahlak Archipelago.... Isn't this where Dr. Who fights sometimes?

[Carry_Okie]

This isn't really on my list of "must see" places. It might have some military use, though.

How could a spherical planet have so many armpits?

[Centurion2000]

Interesting location. You can pound Egypt, Somalia, Chad, Yemen and Saudi Arabia with nary a thought.

[mikegi]

I'm really interested in what we're doing there. It looks to me like we think we're not going to have access to our existing bases in Arabia, so we're creating backups. I wonder if we think Saudi Arabia (maybe the whole Arabian peninsula) is going to fall into the hands of the Islamic terrorists?

[Cvengr]

"How could a spherical planet have so many armpits?"

Because we are fighting an Octopus.

[Cvengr]

Good location for intermediate sealanes of communication. Also good proximity for air support as opposed to US based operations.Besides, it places our enemies all around us so we can get 'em regardless which direction we aim, ala Chesty Puller in the ChosinR.

A decade ago some indications existed of radioactive ores in this region. If a threat of WMD development by third world powers exists, then it's probably prudent to gain control of the area concurrently.