Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two. Despite all 4 big media controversies (Benghazi, IRS, Barkersfield, and AP/DOJ) combined. This story has to be the most significant.
It is already known that troops are to "come home" but a handful are to stay until 2024. Well, now that may even be moved up to a later date. "Endless"
The war on terroism will last "at least 10 to 20 more years" - Michael Sheehan
Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Sheehan, (picture above) testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee's May 16, 2013, hearing on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. Photo: AP/Carolyn Kaster
It is hard to resist the conclusion that this war has no purpose other than its own eternal perpetuation. This war is not a means to any end but rather is the end in itself. Not only is it the end itself, but it is also its own fuel: it is precisely this endless war - justified in the name of stopping the "threat of terrorism". 'War' must be regarded as a finite, extraordinary and unnatural state of affairs. A war only in the matters of peace, and to protect American Freedoms. We must not wage war, nor should we accept the current conflict, and all that it entails, as the 'new normal.'"
Back in last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted "disposition matrix", a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be "disposed of", indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack: Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade. Given the way al-Qaida continues to metastasize, some officials said no clear end is in sight. . . . That timeline suggests that the United Stateshas reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism."
On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether the statutory basis for this "war" - the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) - should be revised (meaning: expanded). Spencer Ackerman (soon to be the Guardian US's national security editor) described the most significant exchange:
"Asked at a Senate hearing today how long the war on terrorism will last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, answered, 'At least 10 to 20 years.' . . . A spokeswoman, Army Col. Anne Edgecomb, clarified that Sheehan meant the conflict is likely to last 10 to 20 more years from today - atop the 12 years that the conflict has already lasted. Welcome to America's Thirty Years War."
In January, former Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson delivered a highly-touted speech suggesting that the war on terror will eventually end; he advocated that outcome, arguing:
'War' must be regarded as a finite, extraordinary and unnatural state of affairs. We must not accept the current conflict, and all that it entails, as the 'new normal.'"
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