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Iraq
Senator: New Iraq Government Could Take Five Years
2003-04-21
A leading Republican lawmaker said on Sunday it could be at least five years before a new government is up and running in Iraq. As the U.S. administration was reportedly considering a long-term military arrangement in the country, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar said the U.S. effort led by retired Gen. Jay Garner to begin rebuilding post-war Iraq had "started very late" and gaps were being filled by Shi'ite Muslims and others who seek a theocratic state over a democracy.
No, it started two months early, sinced the war plan called for 90 days and not 30 days of fighting.
"I would think at least we ought to be thinking of a period of five years of time. Now, that may understate it," Lugar, an Indiana Republican, told NBC's "Meet the Press" program.
Might take fifty years.
Lugar was one of several U.S. lawmakers and former officials appearing on Sunday morning talk shows in the aftermath of the successful U.S. military assault on Iraq that brought down the government of President Saddam Hussein. The New York Times on Sunday reported that the United States was planning a long-term military relationship with the new government of Iraq that would give the Pentagon access to four military bases in the country. Such an arrangement could spark additional concern in the Middle East where general Arab sentiment is for the United States to leave Iraq quickly.
Tap, tap, tap ...
Speaking to reporters in Texas, President Bush would not predict how long U.S. troops would remain in Iraq, saying he would not declare the war over until the commanding general, Tommy Franks, said so. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said U.S. troops would remain as long as it took to secure the country and then would leave. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, shied away from saying there would be a "permanent" U.S. military force in Iraq but said the United States would be required to keep a presence in the region. "We've come to stay, but we've come to leave," Roberts said on "Fox News Sunday."
What? What'd he say?
"I remember when President (Bill) Clinton indicated we would be in the Balkans for about a year. Now it's a decade later. We're still there, and we still need to be there," Roberts said. The NATO-led peacekeeping operation in Bosnia began in December 1995 and, although much reduced, still numbers over 10,000 troops.
I don't recall any discussion of an exit strategy for the Balkans before Bill sent us in.
Sen. Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he would expect U.S. troop presence to be "an evolutionary process" with a significant number early on until the situation settled down. "We're going to have to be there for a while, not permanently, but for a while, because we don't want to win the war and then lose the peace," Bayh told the Fox program.
Oh, Lordy. That's already become a clichè. Somebody tell him: real men don't eat cliche.
Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, one of the strongest advocates for military action against Iraq, was more optimistic, telling CBS's "Face the Nation" that "a transition could be short — a matter of months. I would hope that it would only be a matter of months."
I think the Shiites will try and prevent that, perhaps inadvertently...
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told CNN's "Late Edition" U.S. troops would likely "stay longer than two years." Former CIA Director James Woolsey said the United States would have to maintain a military presence of "some substantial degree" in the Gulf region.
Good news is, we can close our Saudi bases!
Posted by:Steve White

#1  Just like a sports contract: a signing bonus (out of Soddy), a base contract 5-7 years with incentives (taking out Iran and Syria), with incentives (Lebanon and Soddy).
Posted by: Frank G   2003-04-21 18:05:46  

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