Pentagon Studies Long-Term Commitment in Iraq

From NPR courtesy of the Daily Kos:

The White House and Pentagon are under increasing pressure from Congress and the public to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq. But the Pentagon is considering maintaining a core group of forces in Iraq, possibly for decades.

And

A series of military installations could be maintained around Iraq, with a total of total of 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. troops, for a long period of time — maybe a few decades. There are currently about 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

The bases would be located in various strategic locations, ones that served by air landing strips, for instance. The bases would be sealed and U.S. forces wouldn't be on patrols as they are now.

Click here to read or listen to the rest.

I've had a really bad feeling about this for quite a while now.

News of several multi-billion dollar mega-bases under construction in Iraq broke a couple of years ago without much corporate media fanfare, but the obvious conclusion to make from that story is that such bases mean the US plans on being there for some twenty years or more. Now I know that withdrawal is all the rage with Democratic presidential contenders these days, but I seriously doubt the front runners, Obama and Clinton, would really be in a big huge hurry to hightail it out of Dodge in the way that, say, Gravel or Kucinich would, and let's face it, those two guys just aren't going to win. In other words, these "sealed" bases might very well be palatable to Hillary and Barak.

I'm really afraid that we really will be there forever.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$