Gary Hart's Question of The Day At The Huffington Post, Senator Gary Hart asks whether or not we're building permanent bases in Iraq: Though the press has been unaccountably lax in pursuing this question, the best evidence, mostly from non-"mainstream" sources, is that we are building somewhere between 12 and 14 permanent military bases. Permanent in this context means concrete and steel not tents and trench latrines. If the goal of the Project for a New American Century, as it thereafter became the Bush administration, was to overthrow Saddam Hussein, install a friendly government in Baghdad, set up a permanent political and military presence in Iraq, and dominate the behavior of the region (including securing oil supplies), then you build permanent bases for some kind of permanent American military presence. If the goal was to spread democracy and freedom, then you don’t. So, are we? Or are we not? Read It: The most optimistic among us might expect this administration to cut and run for the sake of political expediency as the casualties rise. The fact is, this administration's actions indicate it intends to remain in the middle east for the long haul. So far, 1,612 soldiers have died in Iraq, but ten times the number won't shake the president from his indifference to human suffering.