50 More Years in Iraq?

Steve Holland writes for Reuters: "The United States has had thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea to guard against a North Korean invasion for 50 years. . . .

"Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a statement he believes it is time for Bush to 'recognize the reality on the ground in Iraq,' that U.S. troops are mired in an Iraqi civil war and a change in course is urgently needed."

Holland also notes: "Iraq's neighbors have raised concerns about the possibility of the United States maintaining permanent bases in Iraq, and some U.S. lawmakers have said they think the Iraqi insurgency may have been fueled by perceptions the United States wants a permanent presence in the country."

Paul Richter writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates . . . has said that a long-term U.S. military presence would help stabilize the region and provide for U.S. national security.

"'It's important to defend this country on the extremists' 10-yard line and not our 10-yard line,' Gates said this month."

Richter also writes: "Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at Brookings Institution, said Snow's comparison of Iraq and South Korea would hurt efforts to convince Iraqis and others that the United States does not plan an indefinite military stay.

"'In trying to convey resolve, he conveys the presumption that we're going to be there for a long time,' O'Hanlon said. 'It's unhelpful to handling the politics of our presence in Iraq.'"

Mark Silva blogs for the Chicago Tribune that Snow's remarks were "enough to raise eyebrows about intentions for the U.S. military in Iraq."

Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo blog is all over the South Korea analogy. Here are some comments from one TPM reader: "When the public rationales evaporate, or when events make the achievement of any of the rationales still being offered in fact impossible of achievement, the White House will still keep troops on the ground -- even when their presence makes the stated goals even harder to achieve (e.g. reconciliation between Iraq's factions), the White House will find some other justification for staying, no matter how weak. Because staying is itself the objective.

"Occam's Razor supports me in this; the creation and maintenance of a long-term military presence is the only policy objective that unifies, aligns and makes sense of everything Bush has done. If any other goal is posited, his policies and actions are incoherent; but if this goal is posited, they all make sense."

The Transcript

The South Korea conversation actually started in the morning White House gaggle, when redoubtable Hearst columnist Helen Thomas asked Snow whether he could confirm a report in the New York Times last week, in which David E. Sanger and David S. Cloud reported that administration officials were saying that "proposals being developed envision a far smaller but long-term American presence, centering on three or four large bases around Iraq."

Sanger and Cloud wrote: "Mr. Bush has told recent visitors to the White House that he was seeking a model similar to the American presence in South Korea."