Two plus Two Equal Permanent Occupation

Compare these two statements. The first is from a 19-year old kid stuck at a new mega-base in Iraq, where according to the Washington Post story, the concrete goes on forever, vanishing into the noonday glare, 2 million cubic feet of it, a mile-long slab that's now the home of up to 120 U.S. helicopters, a heli-park as good as any back in the States:

"I think we'll be here forever."

The second comes from a vile "think tank" called the Project for the New American Century. This group included familiar names, such as Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Bill Bennet, Dick Cheney and last but not least, Rummy.

"The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein....retaining forward-based forces in the region would still be an essential element in U.S. security strategy given the longstanding American interests in the region."

The kid's right.