Oh my God, don't stop now!

President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence [occupation] in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability but not in a frontline combat role, the White House said on Wednesday.

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

So this is why they're building a 21-story "embassy" with 16-foot-thick walls and a Krispy Kreme donut shop. I'd wondered.

That repetitious dull thudding noise that you hear?

That's me banging my head against the wall. I do it to keep from screaming.

NOTE Via Josh Marshall, who calmly dissects all the reasons why this idea is as insane as it appears to be.

UPDATE Actually, I suppose I should look at the bright side, since "50 years" is considerly shorter than the "1000 year" mentality these guys started out with.

UPDATE An extremely alert reader at TPM writes:

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.

Bingo. And so what about the lives and the money? Only the little people worry about such things!