War on terror to last till 2040?

[TankGirl]

Inthenews.co.uk:

US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Washington's wider war on terror, are likely to continue until 2040, a new report states.

Today's study from the Oxford Research Group (ORG) claims that the George Bush administration's mistake in supplanting Saddam Hussein by force has effectively turned the conflict into what the White House itself now dubs the "long war". Report author Paul Rogers, global security consultant at ORG, also explains that political upheaval in the US following the midterm elections is unlikely to signal any lasting change in policy direction. The professor claims that such was the extent of public dissatisfaction with the president's tactics in Iraq, that the Democrats were able to gain control of both houses of Congress without standing on the commitment of withdrawal from the Middle East.

He goes on to say that politicians' hands are effectively tied, however, as any such withdrawal could grant extremists control of an oil-rich region; despite the obvious problem that 150,000 soldiers in Iraq is a "magnet for radicalism". "There still lies the enduring importance of the Persian Gulf oil reserves, with both the US and China increasingly relying on the region, which means that it would be entirely unacceptable for the US to consider withdrawal from Iraq, no matter how insecure the environment," the report states.

Professor Rogers writes that Iraq has become the world centre for the training of Islamic militants, just as Afghanistan was in the face of Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

In the report, the professor says: "Most people believe that the recent elections mark the beginning of the end of the Bush era but that does not apply to the war on terror. "In reality there will be little change until the US faces up to the need for a fundamental rethink of its policies. So far, even with the election results, there is no real sign of that."