Army Planning for 4 More Years in Iraq

[Imagevision]

WASHINGTON - The Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in
Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years, the Army's top general said Saturday.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050820/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_chief_interview_5

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Who told them they have to stay there?? Whose interests are they

looking out for? I hope they aren't still trying to sell the "protecting our way of life" dribble again.

[Junkdrawer]

2. Mother Jones: Digging in....

If the U.S. government doesn't plan to occupy Iraq for any longer than necessary, why is it spending billions of dollars to build "enduring" bases?

When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told reporters last December that he expected U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for another four years, he was merely confirming what any visitor to the country could have surmised. The omnipresence of the giant defense contractor KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown & Root), the shipments of concrete and other construction materials, and the transformation of decrepit Iraqi military bases into fortified American enclaves—complete with Pizza Huts and DVD stores—are just the most obvious signs that the United States has been digging in for the long haul. It's a far cry from administration assurances after the invasion that the troops could start withdrawing from Iraq as early as the fall of 2003. And it is hardly consistent with a prediction by Richard Perle, the former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, that the troops would be out of Iraq within months, or with Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi's guess that the U.S. occupation would last two years. Take, for example, Camp Victory North, a sprawling base near Baghdad International Airport, which the U.S. military seized just before the ouster of Saddam Hussein in April 2003. Over the past year, KBR contractors have built a small American city where about 14,000 troops are living, many hunkered down inside sturdy, wooden, air-conditioned bungalows called SEA (for Southeast Asia) huts, replicas of those used by troops in Vietnam. There's a Burger King, a gym, the country's biggest PX—and, of course, a separate compound for KBR workers, who handle both construction and logistical support. Although Camp Victory North remains a work in progress today, when complete, the complex will be twice the size of Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo—currently one of the largest overseas posts built since the Vietnam War.

....

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2005/03/enduring_bases_iraq.html

[cobaindrain]

3. so much conflicting info

One report says we'll be gradually pulling out in the next 6 months...another says we'll be down to a small amount of troops by the 2006 midterms. now this. What to believe?

I think they're preparing for a Cheney administration (we're in one now anyway) but be prepared. Dick is very ambitious, he'll be 67 in 08 and WILL RUN.