The Pentagon Has A Number Of Bases Around The World That Are 'Off The Books'

Photos of Strykers and up-armored Humvees flying U.S. flags were posted on social media over the weekend after the U.S. regional command confirmed that Special Forces troops in northeastern Syria had moved toward Manbij. Photo via Twitter

Nick Turse, The Nation: The Pentagon’s Shadow Military Bases

Many well-known and secretive bases have long been left off the Defense Department’s books.

The US military is finally withdrawing (or not) from its base at al-Tanf. You know, the place that the Syrian government long claimed was a training ground for Islamic State (ISIS) fighters; the land corridor just inside Syria, near both the Iraqi and Jordanian borders, that Russia has called a terrorist hotbed (while floating the idea of jointly administering it with the United States); the location of a camp where hundreds of US Marines joined Special Operations forces last year; an outpost that US officials claimed was the key not only to defeating ISIS, but also, according to General Joseph Votel, the commander of US forces in the Middle East, to countering “the malign activities that Iran and their various proxies and surrogates would like to pursue.” You know, that al-Tanf.

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WNU Editor: I suspect that this number is very high.