Permanent Occupation: The New Normal

If you’re like most Americans and most Iraqis, chances are you think a normal state of affairs between the two nations is not one in which, say, U.S. troops walk the streets of Baghdad. Well, all you’ve done is prove your unfitness to serve in the Bush administration. Today, the administration has spun the forthcoming permanent U.S. troop presence as amounting to a “normalization” of relations.

Here’s the White House fact sheet on the deal:

[T]his Declaration is the first step in a three-step process that will normalize U.S.-Iraqi relations in a way which is consistent with Iraq’s sovereignty and will help Iraq regain its rightful status in the international community – something both we and the Iraqis seek.

And here’s National Security Council staffer Brett McGurk:

“It sends a signal to the region … that the United States is committed to Iraq for the long term — that we’re not packing up and leaving,” McGurk said. “But that nature of our commitment over time will transition, as it should, and that we will have a normalized, bilateral relationship with Iraq.”

Credit the administration with a sudden candor. For the first time in four years, it’s admitting that its conception of a normal Iraq is one in which the U.S. military operates there forever and ever and ever. It’s not quite 6 p.m. Are there any other conspiracy theories sure to arouse anti-American sentiment in the Middle East that the administration would like to confirm before quitting time?