So we are stuck with BushCo until 2008 and if these jokers keep control for the 8 years after that - we would be done as a democratic world power - bankrupt in capitol, standing and ideas.

So yeah, we would be out of Iraq then - we probably would not be able to maintain a presense after that date.

Oh - and what is the year the Social Security stops collecting more than it pays out? Somewhere between 2016 and 2018.

American troops are still in Japan, 61 years later, in Germany, also 61 years later and in Britain,Italy, Korea etc, etc. So 10 years is really nothing new, especially with all the improvements of the situation in Irak, that peaceful transition! Even the Sunnis are beginning to hope that the troops stay, since that protects them to degree from being targets of the Shia Police, Army and Militias.

"commanders say that the news media is ignoring progress there"

Gee. I wonder why they're scrounging for good news?

By the way, have you seen that the military is getting high school teachers to talk up joining the military to their students? And it is sending Black Hawk helicopters to high schools to take kids for a ride? And that they have combat-simulating environments where high school kids play soldier, just like an amusement park submarine-simulator or a fake rock climbing wall at camp?

Whoopee, what fun war is! Helicopters are cool. And I can get money for college, too, my homeroom teachers says so!

Check it out on CNN.

http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/06/27/recruiting.educators.ap/index.html

If the U.S. is no longer tied down in Iraq after 2016, will it THEN go after bin-Forgotten and his criminal associates, who (we've been told) killed 3000 innocent people 9/11?

If you amortize the cost of the huge US complexes being built in Iraq, it's simply not going to be cost effective to pull out as early as 2016. Not unless Halliburton has already been granted demolition/salvage rights or a 99 year lease so they can sublet it to whatever tinpot dictator will be running the place in '16 for a cut of the petrodollar revenue stream.

Unless of course Bush invents that hydrogen car during his next vacation down to the ranch in Crawford. That'd be the dawning of a whole new day for the Middle East, cause then we wouldn't care if they all blew each other up.

"....some level of American forces will be needed in Iraq until 2016." In the same story, the Times says that the commanders complained that the U.S. news media is ignoring progress in Iraq.

That's because until recently, they figured we'd have to be until 2045.

The American "super-bases" being porkbarreled into current Pentagon "Iraq supplement"

spending reflect the little discussed aspect of whos air force will be flying the skies

of Iraq for the coming years. Thus far all the "new and improved Iraq military buildup" is

directed towards land forces. There has been little rebuilding effort on Iraq air force

capabilities. American warplanes have been the defacto Iraqi air force ever since the

no-fly zone era was put in place way back there in the early 1990's. A recent article

in the LA TIMES touched on just how depleted the Iraq Air Force remains. All the talk

about standing up the Iraq Army has little to do with American intentions of being the

guys who control the warplanes and airspace,bomb drops,missile shoots and play gatekeeper

of Iraqi airspace. So 2016 seems as likely as any year for the U.S.AIR FORCE to still be

in Iraq. Given the current trends of Iraq becoming Americans very own West Bank/Gaza Strip

and with the Israelis having demonstrated many times over the benefits of being the

only force in the air advantage where else could this go? Another factor of American

control of Iraqi air space has to do with Iran clearly enough. Having the U.S.AIRFORCE

right up next to Iran is ideal should the Iran-USA War ignite. Surely American AWACS

planes troll the Iraq-Iran border daily as is and being able to continue such activity

for some number of years to come plays perfectly into American strategic plans. Two

final reasons then remain. Iraq may get lucky and Iraqi politics which currently are

not much different then a disturbed hornets nest may settle down,democracy take hold

and a string of democratically elected regimes come and go. Or the toughest,meanest,

smartest guy will make it to the top and pick up where Saddam was before he ran off for

some spiderhidey-holing. This is not a far stretch thinking wise. The point then is having

American fighterjets in place to either back this guy up or do another "regime change"

should that be desired. Finally there are those Iraqi oil fields,global energy market and

security needs but the American invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with that. Sure. It was

all about WMD,evil Saddam,the war of terror and planting democracy. Still sure? The U.S.AIRFORCE

may be over Iraq for many years to come. If the super-bases work out. If the Americans

don't run out of borrowed money. If Iraq lets us. If the Americans continue to put in office

more G.W.Bush types.Lots of ifs. 2010? 2016? 2020? 2026? Pick a number and place your bet.