Editor:

Speculating on withdrawal from Iraq:

Ever since the Bush administration openly began discussing a need to invade Iraq - following the 9/11/2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York - I have had an image in my mind. That image is a picture of a grand American airfield somewhere near Baghdad.

Call me suspicious, but I have suspected all along that was the real reason why the Bush administration wanted to go into Iraq - to establish a permanent American managed military base in the middle of Iraq. It could include willing participation from other countries, but essentially, it was probably envisioned as mostly American managed.

The purpose of that permanent base is to aid in the stabilizing of the Middle East. I suspect that those in the Bush administration who envisioned such a base really had a motive of peace in mind, and still do have such a motive for having established a base.

I am not sure why neighbor, Kuwait, could not have served as the location for such a base, but I suspect that there were problems with that prospect, perhaps from some significant resistance to such an idea within Kuwait.

If I am right and the Bush administration did, in fact, have a permanent airfield/military base in Iraq in mind, I think I would be very pleased if I were them - at this time of transferring power to the next administration. Why? Because a mission was accomplished.

They pulled it off, and almost no one knows the real intent. Try to dismantle or surrender that established base now and see how difficult it will be. I think the Bush administration knew that it would be almost impossible for any subsequent administration to undo a permanent military base, and they are probably right.

So, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and team can go quietly and confidently off the main stage now and know that no matter who has taken over the reins of power in the United States, their dream and their vision will have been established, and it might work out quite well, too. Time will tell.

I smile, though, at the talk of having some timetable of withdrawal from Iraq. If I am right, and permanency was intended from the very beginning, there will never be a complete withdrawal.

Of course, troops can be reduced in number, but more than likely, that reduction will never reach zero because far more than zero will be required to maintain the base - or bases - we have founded. Right?

FRANCIS WILLIAM BESSLER, Laramie