AP: Army chief says US ready to be in Iraq 10 years

[Political Heretic]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday.

Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said the world remains dangerous and unpredictable, and the Pentagon must plan for extended U.S. combat and stability operations in two wars. "Global trends are pushing in the wrong direction," Casey said. "They fundamentally will change how the Army works."

He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and policy analysts from Washington-based think-tanks. He said his planning envisions combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade as part of a sustained U.S. commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East.

(snip)

Casey said several times that he wasn't the person making policy, but the military was preparing to have a fighting force deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for years to come. Casey said his planning envisions 10 combat brigades plus command and support forces committed to the two wars.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_IRAQ?SITE=NEYOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Same old, Same old.

[Political Heretic]

1. kick

[Wednesdays]

2. Only 10?

:shrug:

What a wimp...McCain said 100 years. Where's the dedication!?

[avaistheone1]

3. Don't worry it there. This new admin is smarter. They are unrolling the horror 10 years at a time.

War never ending from one administration to the other.

Is this the change we voted for?

[Bigmack]

4. It won't happen...

We can't afford it. Even the morons who really run this country understand the bottom line. It may take a complete economic meltdown, of course, and not just the little rough patch we see today.

In ten years, our troops could be out of Iraq and in the unemployment line.

If we keep spending half our disposable income on the military, I hope our allies and friends in the world will remember what "foreign aid" is, and give us some.

[blindpig]

5. k&r

Same old, indeed.

[Political Heretic]

6. kick