Asia Times: In for the long haul

[unhappycamper]

In for the long haul
By Ehsan Ahrari
Oct 28, 2005

The United States will have to maintain a substantial part of its current 150,000 forces in Iraq long after President George W Bush leaves office, concludes a study released by the London-based think tank, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

The conclusion itself has been regarded as very much part of conventional wisdom inside Washington. Only the timing of the release of that study is going to provide further ammunition to the opponents of the Iraq war, especially inside the Republican Party. There has been little international support for America's invasion of Iraq. Now Bush's core support for staying put in Iraq appears to be unfastening.

The chief problem that the United States is facing in Iraq is that neither European countries nor Arab states are willing to do anything to make life easy for the Bush administration. Thus, it has to rely on its own military might or political capabilities to find its way out of the Iraqi imbroglio.

The worsening security situation inside Iraq makes America's military prowess almost an irrelevant reality. Regarding its political capabilities, Washington still has to look for some help from its allies and friends, but such help has remained a rare commodity.

MORE
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GJ28Ak01.html

[Demeter]

1. No We Don't

Only a fool fights in a burning house (and Dubya is just the fool to prove it!)

(And they called themselves Vulcans--disgusting. Ferengi, maybe, or just some genetically, mentally and morally inferior degenerates).