Is there another Hundred Years War in the offing?

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, said Saturday, “We will be in a struggle with the Islamic world for the next 100 years.”

Shelby delivered his remarks at the Athens Senior Center during his 22nd annual town hall meeting here.

“I will not say that Afghanistan or Iraq is stable, but they are more stable than last year,” Shelby said. “I will never vote to cut funding from troops in harm’s way, but when we get into a conflict it should be with a view to the end game. It would have been best if we would have gotten out six months later, but we didn’t. Now, we’re fighting back.”

Shelby, who serves as a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Subcommittee on Defense, said the U.S. must be strong both militarily and economically to stay the course. He displayed a graph showing that 18.5 percent of the $2.6 trillion budget goes to defense.

“We’re squeezed on our abilities, but of No. 1 importance is our security—to protect our people,” he said.

Shelby recently wrote on his Web site that, “…we must remember there are limits to what our military can do and remain deeply concerned about the Iraqis meeting their responsibility. I firmly believe the Iraqi government must do more to beef up its police force and military presence.”

Alabama economy

Shelby praised North Alabama’s economy, saying much of its fortunes are tied to Marshall Space Flight Center which has a $5.6 billion impact on the local economy.

“Right now, we’re putting up a building that is one-sixth the size of the Pentagon on Redstone,” said Shelby of new construction to accommodate the BRAC moves.

“We’re also building a big ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) presence on Redstone. It would be a $100 million facility in bomb analysis. We’re trying to bring that center here. It would mean lots of jobs both for the FBI and ATF.”

Immigration

“When they talk about immigration reform they’re talking about amnesty,” said Shelby, who voted last year against Senate Bill 1639 because it contained a four-year renewable “Z” non-immigrant visa in which any immigrant illegally in the U.S. before Jan. 1, 2007, would have been eligible to apply, which Shelby says is another way of saying amnesty. “I have voted for the toughest immigration bills to come before the Senate. There are 3 billion people trying to come to America, but we can’t handle that many people.”