United States Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark has this to say about the war in Iraq in an interview with
Naval Forces magazine
posted yesterday to the Navy's official website:
With the war in Iraq now costing roughly $5 billion a month, how assured are you that the Navy will be authorized to apply any of these savings to its shipbuilding accounts?
ADMIRAL CLARK: Some of them I get to apply, and some I don't. The nation is at war, and we are going to be at war for a long time. I'm telling my Sailors it is a 30-year war.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz hasn't been willing to commit to anything shorter himself,
when he testified in the Senate last May:
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told senators Tuesday that he couldn't predict how long American troops would have to stay in Iraq or how large a force would be needed once the United States hands over sovereignty to an interim government.
And, there is certainly no plan to reduce forces by any amount before 2006.
I wonder how the Republicans think that they will sustain the military for this length of time with an all volunteer military, given that the Army, Marines, Reserves and National Guard are all having trouble meeting recruiting goals? I'm not a military expert, so I won't venture a guess. Does anyone else have any ideas?