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The U.S. will also leave behind all those empty bases, which the military is quietly turning over to Iraqi security forces. Most are still equipped with professional kitchens, trailers for housing, and industrial-grade generators—“excess property” the Pentagon deemed too costly and cumbersome to remove. Other former military sites are becoming civilian outposts. Iraq’s Youth and Sport Ministry has taken over Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Diyala province, which once housed the 4th Infantry Div. Trailers on the base will become classrooms for the Education Ministry. Richardson says donated Humvees, once covered in desert camouflage, have been repainted in the red, white, and black of the Iraqi flag.
The U.S. is giving Iraq $580 million worth of equipment, the Pentagon estimates. That bothers Scott Pepperman, executive director of the National Association of State Agencies for Surplus Property, which helps states purchase excess government equipment. “One fire truck can save a community from raising taxes, cutting off police forces,” says Pepperman. “Who owns the property? It’s the U.S. taxpayers. The best [thing] is to bring it back to the people who paid for it in the first place.”
The Pentagon believes helping the Iraqis is money well spent, especially if the bases and donations help the fledgling government fight off insurgent attacks and preserve goodwill between Iraq and the U.S. in a region of the world hostile to American interests. “The fair market value is the benefit for the United States’ national security,” Estevez says.
As the deadline nears, handing over U.S. bases to the Iraqis has become an Army ritual. After Richardson signs off, the outgoing base commander escorts local leaders on a walk-through of their property. “We owe it to them,” Richardson says. “It’s the right thing to do.”
The bottom line: The U.S. military will leave the Iraqi government with bases and equipment worth $580 million when it officially withdraws at yearend.
Dwoskin is a staff writer for Bloomberg Businessweek in Washington. Ratnam is a reporter for Bloomberg News.
