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Now we know where things are headed

This piece in Middle East Online says it all.....just what has been suspected for a long time and consistently denied. The US is in Iraq for the long haul:

"The United States is constructing multiple military bases in Iraq, and a gigantic embassy in Baghdad. Even as the US Congress, media, and citizenry debate withdrawal from Iraq, indisputable evidence on the ground shows a permanent imperialistic plan for US-occupied Iraq, says Patrick Seale. Last week, almost unnoticed, the war in Iraq entered a new phase. Laconic statements from the White House and the Pentagon confirmed what had long been suspected -- namely that the United States is planning a long-term military presence in Iraq. This is a geopolitical development of the first importance. It is a clear statement that, in spite of its current difficulties in Iraq -- May was the most lethal month since 2004, with 119 U.S. soldiers killed -- the United States firmly intends to maintain control of Iraq and its vast oil reserves. Iraq’s neighbours and energy-hungry states and oil companies will take note. On a visit to the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu on 31 May, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the United States was looking for a "long and enduring presence" in Iraq under a mutually agreed arrangement with the Iraq government."

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