n this episode we bring you a piece sent to us by our friends in San Diego, who have a great show called "Alternate Focus," which mostly trains their investigative lens on issues related to the Middle East. They do excellent work and this piece is really good. "The Bases Are Loaded" is their look at US military bases in Iraq. http://alternatefocus.org Will the U.S. ever leave Iraq? Official policy promises an eventual departure, while warning of the dire consequences of a "premature" withdrawal. But while Washington equivocates, facts on the ground tell another story. Independent journalist Dahr Jamail, and author Chalmers Johnson, are discovering that military bases in Iraq are being consolidated from over a hundred to a handful of permanent US "megabases" with lavish amenities. While US officials try to obscure much of what is taking place through denials and quibbles over the definition of "permanent," this excellent video cuts through the crap. Gary Hart, James Goldsborough, Nadia Keilani, Raed Jarrar, Bruce Finley, Kam Zarrabi, and Mark Rudd all add their observations about the extent and purpose of the bases in Iraq. Pepperspray Productions formed shortly after the WTO protests in Seattle, in response to the Independent Media Center's call, "don't hate the media, be the media!". We believe that the Corporate Media is not telling us the whole story, and that the people must make our own media if we want our voices to be heard. http://www.indymedia.orghttp://www.newsreal.indymedia.org Less