Never leaving Iraq

The Bush administration is floating trial ballons about a 10 year 50,000 troop commitment in Iraq. ThinkProgress has an example from today's NYTimes,

Mr. Bush on Friday made clear that the American commitment to the country will be long-term. Officials say the administration has begun to look at the costs of maintaining a force of roughly 50,000 troops there for years to come, roughly the size of the American presence maintained in the Philippines and Korea for decades after those conflicts.

This meshes very well with the articles Friday night hinting at the same thing. In that same post, there was also an article pointing out that legislative prohibitions against permanent bases in Iraq were stripped out of the Iraq funding bill. Self importantly quoting myself:

"At some point there will be a drawdown of troops, but not a complete withdrawal. Those bases skirting the Iraqi, Iranian, and Saudi oilfields are one of the main reasons the Iraq war was launched."