Seems Like A Long Time, Seems Like A Mighty Long Time....

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Washington digs in for a 'long war' as Rumsfeld issues global call to arms:

The Bush administration's re-characterisation of its 'global war on terror' as the 'long war' will be seen by critics as an admission that the US has started something it cannot finish. But from the Pentagon's perspective, the change reflects a significant upgrading of the 'generational' threat posed by worldwide Islamist militancy which it believes to have been seriously underestimated.

The reassessment, contained in the Pentagon's quadrennial defence review presented to Congress yesterday, presages a new US drive to rally international allies for an ongoing conflict unlimited by time and space. That presents a problematic political, financial and military prospect for many European Nato members including Britain, as well as Middle Eastern governments(emphasis mine).

The Brits are so good at understatement.