Staying as long as possible?
Bush's speach last night had hidden messages to the various cohorts, encouraging them to hang in there, its working.
The USA won't leave anytime soon, maybe as long as the oil is flowing...
The offer by Germany and France to train Iraqi forces at bases outside Iraq is being rejected by the Bush administration - why?
The call for more troops on the ground in Iraq is being rejected too - why?
Those two [rejected] efforts could substantially reduce the USA cost in lives and dollars for the stated objectives of having a self-reliant police and army force in Iraq, of Iraqis. So we wonder WHY they don't do "all they can" to get that done.
Could it be because they don't want to get the job done anytime too soon?
yes, They want to be there. We can'tbe sure why they want to be there, its either for the free crude oil the American forces are stealing from the Iraqi people, or its about having a prescence in the Arab world for various nefarious reasons like genocide, political control, or setting up for a christian "war on Islam".
Bush's speach told of how the Iraqis are doing better now, how things are progressing... a government is set up, a constitution written up... but those two steps could be seen as things the USA has done to protect its own interests in Iraq, not for the Iraqi people {"Installing their people in every position of power" is a tactic they have used from Bolivia to Afghanistan, even the United Nations.]
From all accounts, they don't even have the electricity and water going yet. PAH!