Camp Bondsteel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Camp Bondsteel is the main base of the United States Army under KFOR command in Kosovo[a]. Located near Uroševac in the eastern part of Kosovo, the base serves as the NATO headquarters for KFOR's Multinational Task Force East (MNTF-E). The base is named after Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient United States Army Staff Sergeant James L. Bondsteel.
Camp Bondsteel was constructed by the 94th Engineer Construction Battalion together with the private Kellogg, Brown and Root Corporation (KBR) under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers. KBR is also the prime contractor for the operation of the camp. The camp is built mainly of wooden, semi permanent SEA (South East Asia) huts and is surrounded by a 2.5 m (8.2 ft) high earthen wall. The camp occupies 955 acres (3.86 km2) of land.[1] To construct the base two hills were lopped off and the valley between them was filled with the resulting material.
Camp Bondsteel has been known to have stationed a variety of military inventory, from attack helicopters, the AH-64, and other armored land vehicles.
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[edit] Facilities
Camp Bondsteel has many facilities on base for use by the soldiers and civilian employees who live and work there, and can hold up to 70,000 soldiers which makes it the largest US base in the Balkans and in Europe. The post exchange (PX) is the largest military exchange in south eastern Europe and contains all the necessities and more that someone may need while in Kosovo, including TVs, phones, books, DVDs, CDs, small furniture, video games, computers, clothes, shoes, food, and more, all in its two story building. The base also has, arguably, the best hospital in Kosovo; a movie theater; three gyms; two recreation buildings that have phones, computers with internet connection, pool tables, video games and more; two chapels with various religious services and other activities; two large dining facilities; a fire station; a military police station; the Laura Bush education center where classes are offered through the University of Maryland University College and Central Texas College; two cappuccino bars, a Burger King, Taco Bell, and an Anthony's Pizza pizzeria; two barber shops; two laundry facilities employing local nationals who do the laundry for those living on base; two press shops; a sewing shop; two massage shops employing mostly Thai women who conduct various massages and are regulated by military officials; a shoppette that sells snacks and drinks, some DVDs and CDs, some office products, magazines, and essential personal hygiene items; various local vendors who sell Kosovo souvenirs and products; softball and football fields; and more.
[edit] Controversies
The United States Army has been criticised for using the base as a detention facility, and for the conditions faced by the detainees there.[2] In November 2005, Alvaro Gil-Robles, the human rights envoy of the Council of Europe, described the camp as a "smaller version of Guantanamo" following a visit. In response, the US Army stated that there were no secret detention facilities in the Camp. While there is a facility on Camp Bondsteel that was used in the past to hold detainees from the war in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is no longer operational and no one is held there. The Serbian side has repeated numerous times that the reason NATO had attacked her in the Kosovo War was their eventual desire to establish a military outpost in the Balkans. This came at a time when most European nations were forcing the US to close bases on their land, or were rejecting construction of any new ones. This further proved that NATO and the US had an interest in establishing some sort of permanent military presence and that the Albanian side would be willing to allow it as opposed to the Serbs who wanted nothing to do with NATO or the US. The German newspaper "Weltwoche", writes: "A German report by the Berlin Institute for European Policy, produced last year on behalf of the German army... is particularly critical of the role of the US, which had obstructed European investigations and which had been opened up to political extortion by the existence of a secret CIA detention center on the grounds of Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo...”[3]
[edit] Notes and references
Notes:
| a. | ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The Assembly of Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence on 17 February 2008, a move that is recognised by 64 of the 192 UN member states and the Republic of China (Taiwan), but not by other UN member states. Serbia claims it as part of its own sovereign territory. |
References:
- ^ "Camp Bondsteel". Global Security. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-bondsteel.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ "‘Smaller Version of Guantanamo” in Kosovo". 2009-01-31. http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=229833. Retrieved 2009-01-31. mirror
- ^ Peter Schwarz (2008-12-01). "Kosovo’s dirty secret: the background to Germany’s Secret Service affair". http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11239. Retrieved 2009-01-31. "The German report is particular critical of the role of the US, which had obstructed European investigations and which had been opened up to political extortion by the existence of secret CIA detention centres in the grounds of Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo,” writes Weltwoche. “Doubts are growing about the American methods and also as a result of the ‘serious’ description of a high-ranking German UN police officer that the main task of UNMIK’s second in command, American Steve Schook, is ‘to get drunk with Ramush Haradinaj once a week’." mirror
