The Aerial Occupation

Citing Sy Hersh and Norman Solomon's recent missives, Dahr Jamail warns that "if current trends continue, the end of the U.S. occupation in Iraq may more closely resemble the ending in Vietnam."

The political climate at home may force a decrease in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, but the compensatory upswing in air power meant to offset this will be inevitable and will inevitably lead to unexpected problems. Why? Because the Bush administration will still be committed to permanently hanging onto a crucial group of four or five mega-military bases (into which billions of construction and communications dollars have already been poured) along with a massive embassy, directing political and military "traffic" from the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone -- and that means an unending occupation of Iraq, something that, air power or no, can only mean endless strife.

This is something to keep an eye on. Predictably, you don't hear anything about this outside of dissident media sources. And you won't likely anytime soon, especially with all of the tearful reporting about tomorrow's elections dominating coverage in the corporate press.