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==2003 Invasion of Iraq==
"US soldiers used the Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase as a hub to send equipment and 7,000 combat troops into [[Iraq]] during the early stages of the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion in 2003]], and temporarily kept up to 3,500 American troops there." [http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2441/html/politic.htm#s110232][http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=344170]
Scotland's ''Sunday Herald'' [http://www.sundayherald.com/31821 reported] March 2, 2003, that
:"...close to a thousand US soldiers landed at Mihail Kogalniceanu air base over the past few days. [Romanian presidential spokeswoman Corina] Cretu said that half a dozen giant C-130 Hercules transport planes and up to a dozen MH-46 helicopters are ferrying arms, technical material and urgent military supplies from Germany to the 'temporary' US war base on Romanian soil. Romanian military police have thrown a defensive cordon around the base.
:"The officers of the US advance party have turned three storeys of Hotel Savoy in the neighbouring Black Sea resort of Mamaia into their billet, but to assure their safety Romanian military police have erected steel barriers and set up several checkpoints on all the approach roads. Romania's Supreme Defence Council also announced that Bucharest is sending hundreds of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare decontamination specialists, as well as military police units and a complete field hospital.
:"The US has now been given carte blanche 'for the utilisation of Romanian air space, as well as all the necessary military and technical infrastructure, if military action against Iraq becomes unavoidable'. US Seabees are to start work soon on the 'extension of the runways, infrastructure' and military capabilities of the Kogalniceanu base."
By July 2003, "U.S. contracts [had] already paid for Romanian crews to resurface and widen two roads and build landing areas that can accommodate large American troop carriers." [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,930323,00.html]
====2003====
*Gabriel Ronay, [http://www.sundayherald.com/31821 "New Europeans court US favour with military help,"] ''Sunday Herald'' (Scotland), March 2, 2003.
*[http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2003/03/4-SEE/see-140303.asp "U.S. Base Commander Says Romanian Airport Used as 'Bridgeheat' to Qatar" and "Bulgarian Government Offers U.S. Decommissioned Air Base,"] [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]], March 14, 2003/Volume 7 Number 49.
*[http://www.usbiz.ro/us_news_file/press_releases163.php3 "Two US Senators Visit US and Romanian Military at Mihail Kogalniceanu,"] Embassy of the United States of America (Romania), April 14, 2003. re [[Mary Landrieu]] of Louisiana and [[Larry Craig]] of Idaho: "US Ambassador Michael Guest and the Senators toured the medical facilities on base, met for lunch with US military personnel, and saw the base's 'morale center.'"
*[http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=344170 "US to set up two military bases in Romania`s Black Sea region,"] Angola Press, May 26, 2003: "Valeriu Nicut, director of the strategic planning department of the Romanian general staff, ... said Romania will offer the United States the Mihail Kogalniceanu military base, a military camp and a shooting range near the camp and will provide logistic support."
*George Jahn, [http://blacksea.free.fr/index.php?action=Show&page=ShowItems&itemStr=Topic&itemId=387 "Full-time US presence in Bulgaria and Romania?"] Associated Press (BlackSea.Free (France)), June 3, 2003: "In Romania, the Americans are interested in the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base, the Babadag training range and the Black Sea military port of Mangalia."
*[http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,930323,00.html "Balkans Hope To Land U.S. Bases,"] ''Deutsche Welle'' (Germany), July 7, 2003: "In Romania, the Americans are interested in the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base as well as the Babdag training range and the Black Sea port of Constanza. While the U.S. says no decisions have been made, American General Gregory Martin confirmed that negotiations are taking place."
*[http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,394208,00.html "Egyptian Fax Throws Light on 'Black Sites',"] ''Spiegel Online'', January 9, 2006.
*[http://www.lastingnews.com/?p=84 "CIA Secret prisons and torture : fresh evidence,"] ''LastingNews.com'', January 11, 2006. See original Sandro Brotz and Beat Jost, ''Sonntags Blick'' article (in German) [http://www.blick.ch/sonntagsblick/aktuell/artikel30413 "CIA-Skandal. US-Folter-Camps: Der Beweis!"], which shows Reuters photograph from camp.
*K. Gajendra Singh, [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11601.htm "US Franchised Torture Refuses To Go Away,"] Information Clearinghouse, January 18, 2006; [http://www.statewatch.org/cia/documents/media-reports-Aljazeetah-2006.pdf "US Rendition of Suspects to Prisons Worldwide: A Documentation,"] ''[[Al-Jazeerah]]'' (Statewatch.org (13-page pdf)), January 19, 2006.
*Kevin Sullivan, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020400162.html "Romanians Eager for Long-Awaited Arrival of the Yanks,"] ''Washington Post'', February 6, 2006: "Mihail Kogaliceanu ... U.S. soldiers have been the talk of this poor little town since last month, when U.S. and Romanian officials announced that the Romanian air force base here would soon host the first permanent U.S. military presence in a former Warsaw Pact country."
*[http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=105414 "Romanian president says CIA flights may have landed in country,"] Associated Press (MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base), February 8, 2006.