Could U.S. be at war for years?

[James_F]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=275074&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

But even if the Iraqi president is killed or captured, could the American people still be facing years of war, in Iraq or elsewhere?

The issue was raised in Israel well before the assault began, prompted by remarks earlier this week by former prime minister Shimon Peres.

"The war in Iraq is just the beginning," Peres told Israel Channel One Television. "Problems of the first magnitude can be expected therafter, as well: Iran, North Korea, and Libya.

"The problem is, can you simply abandon the world to dictators, to weapons of mass destruction?"

Asked if that meant America might then be facing as many as five or six years of war at this point, Peres replied, "That is very possible. I don't know how long it will take, but the problem is a global one, and it will not end in Iraq, even if a new regime is instituted - say a regime like Jordan's, not a democracy, but orderly and responsible rule."

We can only hope that this war is over quicky will little loss of life on both sides and our troops can come home.

[RandyAB]

I disagree with Shimon Peres. I think each country will be handled differently. Obviously Iraq has been involved with fighting since late 70's. I think once democracy is put in place there it will spread to other countries. Obviously really slow, but it will still spread.

If you look at Iran, the younger people in that country are starting to slowly come back to the Western way of thinking. More and more people are starting to rebel against the Ayotollah and Clerics.

North Korea is the wild card in this, I do not think they are strong enough to fight a significant war. But they could cause problems. I think with our relationship with South Korea it will force us to handle it diplomatically.

And then with Libya recent meetings with Libya, British, and American officials are close to coming together on an agreement regarding the Lockerbie bombing of the Pan Am flight. I think that will be handled diplomatically also.

Of course all of that is just my opinion but we will have to wait and see.

[gcutler]

It depends on how you look at it. As an overall Capitalism vs Communism, it pretty much included Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua and El-Salvador, etc, etc. So if you look at each war seperately the wars did not go on for 40 years, but if you look at it as one big war with different battlefields it was on for 40 years.

If lets say the war is over in Iraq in a few weeks and the US is just there to "Advise" on the reconsturction, and it is 2-3 years beofre we knock heads with Korea or Iran, do you consider it the same war?