Iraq, the fifty-first state

Looks like we're planning to be in Iraq forever:

The Department of Defense is studying the possibility of "maintaining a core group of forces in Iraq, possibly for decades," reports National Public Radio.

Actually, the title I've given this piece is not entirely appropriate. If Iraq became the 51st state, it's people would be American citizens, and the Bush government would never let those dark skinned, sub-humans with a foreign religion become citizens. No sir. We won't even accept a handful of refugees from the destruction we've wrought.