The Long War

The newest and shiniest example in soundbyte engineering. The Long War, is the Pentagon's new plan to chase down and eradicate Islamist extremists. (Can we all pause for a sec and think about that sentence with "Islamist" replaced with "Christian"?) This plan calls for a multi-year war, fought in many countries around the world, and calling for a vast increase in most areas of the military including "...the conversion of submarine-launched Trident nuclear missiles for use in conventional strikes; new close-to-shore, high-speed naval capabilities; special teams trained to detect and render safe nuclear weapons quickly anywhere in the world; and a new long-range bomber force".

The Long War plans have many similiarites to the Project for The New American Century's proposals for American dominance on the world stage (this essay by Gary Schmitt, "Power & Duty: U.S. Action is Crucial to Maintaining World Order" holds many disturbing notions regarding America's place as THE Superpower, and seems to be echoed in alot of the rhetoric coming from the Pentagon regarding The Long War plan).

No specific countries have been named for invasion, as of yet.

Links:

*Guardian UK story because this isn't quite news-y enough to warrant interrupting discussion of American Idol

*Project for The New American Century