Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The Longest War?
THE LONG WAR: As of Saturday (Nov. 25, 2006), the war in Iraq has lasted longer than
the U.S. involvement in World War II, which destroyed Nazi Germany and
the Japanese Empire. At three years and over eight months, "only the
Vietnam War (eight years, five months), the Revolutionary War (six
years, nine months), and the Civil War (four years), have engaged
America longer." More troubling is that multiple factors suggest the
Iraq conflict will continue on indefinitely if U.S. troops remain. A
classified U.S. government report made public this weekend concludes
that the insurgency in Iraq "is now self-sustaining financially,
raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling,
kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and
other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have
been largely unable to prevent." Alarmingly, the report concludes that
"if recent revenue and expense estimates are correct, terrorist and
insurgent groups in Iraq may have surplus funds with which to support
other terrorist organizations outside of Iraq."
