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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Is The US Building A Secret $100 Million Underground Facility Outside Tel Aviv?
By Walter Pincus, Thursday, November 29, 2:38 AM
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named Site 911, at an Israeli Air Force base near Tel Aviv.
Expected to take more than two years to build, at a cost of up to $100 million, the facility is to have classrooms on Level 1, an auditorium on Level 3, a laboratory, shock-resistant doors, protection from nonionizing radiation and very tight security. Clearances will be required for all construction workers, guards will be at the fence and barriers will separate it from the rest of the base.
Only U.S. construction firms are being allowed to bid on the contract and proposals are due Dec. 3, according to the latest Corps of Engineers notice.
Site 911 is the latest in a long history of military construction projects the United States has undertaken for the IDF under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program. The 1998 Wye River Memorandum between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has led to about $500 million in U.S. construction of military facilities for the Israelis, most of them initially in an undeveloped part of the Negev Desert. It was done to ensure there were bases to which IDF forces stationed in the West Bank could be redeployed.
As recorded in the Corps European District magazine, called Engineering in Europe, three bases were built to support 20,000 troops, and eventually the Israeli air force moved into the same area, creating Nevatim air base. A new runway, 2.5 miles long, was built there by the Corps along with about 100 new buildings and 10 miles of roads.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-overseeing-mysterious-construction-project-in-israel/2012/11/28/e5682d8e-38b6-11e2-a263-f0ebffed2f15_story.html
Pincus also found this detailed description of the mezuzahs that will adorn every door in the facility:
These mezuzas, notes the [US Army] Corps, shall be written in inerasable ink, on .?.?. uncoated leather parchment and be handwritten by a scribe holding a written authorization according to Jewish law.
The writing may be Ashkenazik or Sepharadik but not a mixture and must be uniform.
Also, The Mezuzahs shall be proof-read by a computer at an authorized institution for Mezuzah inspection, as well as manually proof-read for the form of the letters by a proof-reader authorized by the Chief Rabbinate. The mezuza shall be supplied with an aluminum housing with holes so it can be connected to the door frame or opening. Finally, All Mezuzahs for the facility shall be affixed by the Bases Rabbi or his appointed representative and not by the contractor staff.
Along with this request is another called 911 Phase 2.
Also in the $100 million range, Pincus finds the complex facility with site development challenges requiring services that include electrical, communication, mechanical/ HVAC [heating, ventilation, air conditioning] and plumbing requirements telling; and along with the fact that the contractor must posses a U.S. or Israeli Secret Security Clearance, he believes this phase to be a secure command center.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-building-secret-site-911-in-israel-2012-11#ixzz2DdQT7q4e
WilliamPitt
(58,179 posts)Wha wha WHA???
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)If we didn't outspend the entire world on our military, perhaps we wouldn't be building Israel's defense complexes for them. But we have an eternal military presence in the Middle East, so everything is as it should be, no?
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)the news.
He's an old school award winning journalist born in the thirties.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)Secret is a relative term.
It's not a secret that $80 billion a year is parceled out from the taxpayers to the "Top Secret America" complex, and that 2/3 of it goes to private contractors.
Do you know much about how this money is spent? Nope.
Smilo
(1,944 posts)and only allow American companies to bid.
Disgusting, but clever.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)I mean.... we are about to go over a cliff and need to cut programs to help the poor and the middle class, right?
Certainly if we are so broke, we can't be building underground facilities for other countries. I mean it must be for another country if the religious requirements of the building are all accurate.
If it were an American government building separation of church and state would mean for something. What sort of American government buildings would need such specific religious orders included in the building of it?
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)is a WTF are we doing moment.
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)I'd like to know WHEN the american people were asked (or maybe volunteered the idea) whether or not this is something THEY deem necessary and desirable for us to spend money on!!! GAH!
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)This article makes my stomach queasy. They are preparing for something.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)And a big part of me wonders how many religious nuts are behind it, hoping to bring on the rapture.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)My Jewish friends keep telling me Israel is not a religious state.
libodem
(19,288 posts)How can the people be so brilliant, funny and talented, and have such a skeezy bunch at the helm in their government.
I don't get it?...
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)If we sell the facility to the Israelis, they can put them up later.
Mosby
(16,168 posts)All the detail is to make sure that the mezuzot are kosher.
There are lots of religious Jews in Israel, which is why they put them up everywhere.
Ever been into a Brake Masters in the US? Check out the door frame.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)Mosby
(16,168 posts)Is just standard language that is included in any building specs in Israel. If it violates american law it won't be implemented and the Israelis will provide the mezuzot.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)jayfish
(10,035 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)does our longtime partnership with israel involve ANYTHING that isn't cash or military related?
nineteen50
(1,187 posts)what they should and could do for themselves you make them weaker.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)PB
robbob
(3,514 posts)Preparing for the war between Gog and Magog?
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Why would they want an underground building that is supposed to keep out "non-ionizing radiation"?
Unless they know something we don't know.....
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Cold war underground installations were sheathed in 1/4 inch copper plate. Plus you have to properly attend to all doors and other apertures in the building.
A secondary advantage is preventing electronic eavesdropping. See "Tempest".
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Won't the Mezuzahs protect them?
salib
(2,116 posts)Way cheaper than the embassy in Iraq.
By the time it's finished it'll be a lot closer to $1,000,000,000.00
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)when our own citizens are losing their homes and jobs, and falling into poverty?
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)We won the election, but we are still bought and sold.
We are still ruled by neocons, and we are headed for something very serious.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)G_j
(40,366 posts)and frightening
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Israel only has enough hydrocabons for its own use. Supporting Israel jeopardizes US oil interests in the region, which are largely based on the US - Saudi alliance.
It is strictly special interest group politics in the US that accounts for support of Israel. Israel is of no geopolitical strategic value to the US.
hunter
(38,264 posts)A safe place for Israel's nukes.
tammywammy
(26,582 posts)That means Israel is paying for the facility. It reads that they're using the Corps as a contractor who has sent out a RFP. The winning proposal will be subcontractors to the Corps.
The US does a lot of FMS.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)from our military aid program
You make it sound like a
GOOD FUCKING THING.