The military thinks they are going to be in Iraq for a long time. Now that we've been kicked out of Saudi Arabia, Iraq is to be our center for Middle East basing.

Former Iraq administrator sees decades-long U.S. military presence

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the former interim administrator of post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Iraq, said Thursday that a U.S. military presence in Iraq should last "the next few decades," but questioned the mix of forces already there and current plans to reconfigure the armed forces as a whole. Echoing concerns raised by lawmakers at this week's defense budget hearings, Garner said in an interview with National Journal Group reporters and editors that the size of the Army and Marine Corps should be increased by enlarging the infantry or ground forces. And he warned that the current strain on National Guard and Reserve forces deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan could cripple efforts to retain experienced soldiers.

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  thanks to This Modern World

The Iraqi's don't seem to be so sure about that...

Iraqis Say Deal on U.S. Troops Must Be Put Off

Iraq's interim leaders said Sunday that they could not negotiate a formal agreement with the American military on maintaining troops in Iraq, and that the task must await the next sovereign Iraqi government. The delay could put the Americans in the position of negotiating an agreement with leaders they did not appoint on such sensitive issues as when the use of force would be allowed.

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Helena Cobban has some interesting thoughts on this issue. A must read.

Pentagon's Iraqi SOFA collapses

Can you hear it? Clunk, clunk, clunk. That's the sound of the Bushies' latest hastily-cobbled-together "plan" for post-Saddam Iraq falling apart, one major portion at a time. The latest part of the Pentagon's (shockingly misnamed) "plan" to collapse is the part known as a "Status of Forces Agreement", or SOFA.

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Here are three links on the effects this is having on our troops.

The unseen cost of the war in Iraq
The true extent of US casualties in Iraq are still unknown. This has fuelled suspicion that the administration may be hiding the true human cost of the war and its aftermath. Channel Four News has been allowed a rare opportunity to meet some of America's wounded soldiers.

  thanks to Whole Wheat Radio

Saddam in the Slammer, so why are we on Orange?
By David H. Hackworth

AFTER STOP-LOSS.

And what about those pesky elections in Iraq? Here are three links, one by Juan Cole (who you should be reading every day if you want the best coverage and commentary on this clusterfuck......there, I took my medication and I'm feeling much better now) and two by the ever thoughtful Helena Cobban...

UN: No Early Elections in Iraq

Brahimi report: a realistic way forward

Cole on Sistani and Mudarrisi