AMMAN, 11 April 2003 — Navy Lt. Mark Kitchens, a spokesman of the US Central Command in Sayliyah, Qatar, has ruled out the possibility of closing the base even after the occupation of Baghdad.

“The Sayliyah base has advanced telecommunication and logistical facilities and plays a major role in managing operations in 25 other countries,” Kitchens told Arab News from Qatar.

He said the base would continue to play a major role in providing information to journalists. “I don’t think the base’s media role will end with the war,” he said.

However, he pointed out that its role would inevitably be diminished when journalists focus on Baghdad after the city’s occupation by US/UK forces.

The Congressionally funded Sayliyah base, located on the outskirts of Doha, is the US Army’s newest pre-positioning facility and was completed in summer 2000 at a cost of some $110 million.

The facility is home to a large force of armored and support units that can be quickly mobilized in response to any crisis in the region. It is the largest single pre-positioning site in the world.

The site contains a range of storage facilities and warehouses.

Construction of the first phase began in 1996. The contracts were structured to give the Army fully usable facilities with the completion of each phase.

Practically all of the warehousing, storage, and maintenance facilities were completed in the first two phases. The base also includes a housing complex for more than 300 officers.

The Sayliyah base attracted public attention with the daily press briefings on the war in Iraq held there by the command’s spokesmen. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited the base before the war.

Sayliyah base became significant for the United States after Saudi Arabia refused to allow the use of Prince Sultan Airbase in Alkharj to launch military operations against Iraq.

Meanwhile, another US military officer in Qatar told Arab News that he hoped that Arab satellite TV channels will continue to cover press conferences at Central Command.

Referring to the killing of journalists in Baghdad in US bombing, he said: “We warned journalists in Baghdad long ago that it is a war zone and they have to take precautions.”

Asked about the journalists besieged in Baghdad, the officer said: “We don’t have to hold any journalists captive. We encourage freedom of expression. But Baghdad has been a dangerous place ever since the war broke out. We have warned journalists against going there.”