Abizaid: Mideast wars may last 50 years

[Psycho4Bud]

PITTSBURGH - It might take as long as half a century before U.S. troops can leave the volatile Middle East, according to retired Army Gen. John Abizaid.

"Over time, we will have to shift the burden of the military fight from our forces directly to regional forces, and we will have to play an indirect role, but we shouldn't assume for even a minute that in the next 25 to 50 years the American military might be able to come home, relax and take it easy, because the strategic situation in the region doesn't seem to show that as being possible," Abizaid said Wednesday at Carnegie Mellon University.

Abizaid, the former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, stepped down in March as the longest-serving commander of U.S. Central Command. He retired from the Army in May and now is at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

The rise of Sunni extremism, burgeoning Shiite extremism, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the world economy's dependency on Mideast oil will keep Americans in the Middle East for a long time, he said.
Abizaid: Mideast wars may last 50 years - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_on_re_us/abizaid_middle_east)

Sad but true..........

Have a good one!:s4:

[aardvark]

It was obvious the US would be there for a longtime when we built 14 permenant bases and an embassy that is as big as the Vatican and holds 7,000 people. The big question for me is not if the US can handle it militarily, but can the country handle it economically? The dollar is shrinking in value, and the US is mortgaged to the hilt with China to pay for this occupation. Can we officially call it an occupation now, since we are going to be there for 50 f'n years? This is the definition of a quagmier.

Remember, the Soviets Empire didn't crumble militarily, it was economics that was their eventual downfall.

50 years...here comes the draft.

[Markass]

Ahh wow, let's kill all of our young men and women over the next fifty years, except for those lucky enough to fall within the cracks of the stipulations for draft..how fucking retarted...I can't wait for a president who ends this stupid fucking bullshit of a war..

fuck this shit, in recent months I've even been considering leaving this country to go to another....I hear that the demand for IT professionals in foreign countries is immense...I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find an occupation in a country that doesn't wage war on it's citizens for them using a plant, nor wage war on countries that the citizens are absolutely against going to war with...

The american government is not a system of democracy, it's a system based on greed...they could give two shits about our citizens, there's plenty more to rape for taxes...kill them with tobacco and alcohol, and arrest them for smoking dried flowers...how ridiculous...this country is a piece of shit

[medicinal]

Ahh wow, let's kill all of our young men and women over the next fifty years, except for those lucky enough to fall within the cracks of the stipulations for draft..how fucking retarted...I can't wait for a president who ends this stupid fucking bullshit of a war..

fuck this shit, in recent months I've even been considering leaving this country to go to another....I hear that the demand for IT professionals in foreign countries is immense...I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find an occupation in a country that doesn't wage war on it's citizens for them using a plant, nor wage war on countries that the citizens are absolutely against going to war with...

The american government is not a system of democracy, it's a system based on greed...they could give two shits about our citizens, there's plenty more to rape for taxes...kill them with tobacco and alcohol, and arrest them for smoking dried flowers...how ridiculous...this country is a piece of shit

You can leave or, you can try and change it. I'm too old to leave and start over, so I have to go with change, I realize the chances of this are slim to none, But I must try. I have a real problem understanding people that like the status quo, they must be either the elite class or the stupid wannabees.