Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Iraq war 'could last for decades'
British troops could be embroiled in Iraq for decades, a major report has claimed.
The study said al Qaida could keep the US tied up in Iraq for many years.
And Britain would only withdraw troops in the "highly unlikely" event of a break with Washington.
The Oxford Research Group has studied the latest events in Iraq. It said the war was still in its early stages and was likely to last for decades.
The group says the occupation has been a "gift" to al Qaida. The terrorist group has won recruits by portraying the US presence as a neo-Christian occupation of a major Islamic state.
Furthermore the report says that ensuring Iraqi security and maintaining a friendly government in Baghdad is an essential part of US security policy even if it requires a permanent military presence.
It says long-term access to Persian Gulf oil is essential to the US because of its increasing dependence on imported oil.
The report says al Qaida's use of the occupation tied to the US need to be dominant in the region means the Iraq conflict is still in its very early stages.
It warns that a US withdrawal would be a "foreign policy disaster greater than the retreat from Vietnam".
"Given that the al Qaida movement and its affiliates are seeking to achieve their aims over a period of decades rather than years, the probability is that, short of major political changes in the USA, the Iraq war might well be measured over a similar time span," it concludes.
? Copyright Press Association Ltd 2005, All Rights Reserved.
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