U.S. wants to retain some Persian Gulf bases

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - The United States wants to keep using military bases in friendly Persian Gulf countries, including a high-tech command center in Qatar where planners directed the war in Iraq, U.S. officials said Sunday.

Officials are considering moving the air operations center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, which ran the Iraq air war. One possibility is a shift to the Qatar base, Camp As Sayliyah.

Gen. Tommy Franks, the top war commander, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with officials in the United Arab Emirates on the first stop of a tour of the region. After talks with the country's defense minister and chief of staff, Rumsfeld and Franks said American military forces are not going to leave any time soon.

"We assured them that the United States intends to do what is necessary to make sure there is a secure environment in Iraq," Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld is in the region to meet with U.S. troops involved in the war in Iraq and to discuss America's role after overthrowing Hussein. Rumsfeld also plans to visit Afghanistan this week to see government leaders and U.S. troops.

The defense secretary has said the United States is considering reducing or rearranging its presence in the gulf region now that the threat from Iraq is over.

The Pentagon has already begun withdrawing personnel and aircraft from bases in Saudi Arabia and Turkey that had been used for more than a decade to patrol "no-fly" zones over Iraq.

But Franks said a reduction in U.S. use of ports and air bases in the United Arab Emirates did not come up Sunday. He said the issue needs more study.

Franks said the U.S. military presence in the region might increase, at least in the short term, as stability and humanitarian relief missions in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.

The United States also wants to keep using the Qatar command center built just before the war and used by Franks as his headquarters for the Iraq campaign.

"We do know that we want to use it, now that we have it," Franks said.

With Global Hawk reconnaissance drones flying out of Dhafra Air Base an hour from Abu Dhabi, Rumsfeld called the United Arab Emirates "a steadfast friend" after meetings with the crown prince, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and other leaders.

But the country responded only with a cautious statement calling for the United States to "expedite the process of transferring power back to the Iraqi people."

- Information from the Washington Post was used in this report.

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