Iraq completely shut down post war so yeh its possible

We fought a war against Iraq, conducted no fly zone operations over them for 12 years, fought another war, occupied them for 9 years, left and came back less than 3 years later for another 7 year long military operation against the terrorist group that filled the power vacuum. We still have about 2500 troops stationed in Iraq.

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FuckButtons 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

We still have 55k in Japan and 24k in Korea, what exactly is your point? 2500 troops for a military the size of the US is a rounding error.

	▲	jjk166 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Thank you for the additional examples of things not simply shutting down after a quick conflict. Lasting peace requires decades of military involvement. That is my point.

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enlightenedfool 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

All that is supported by the American public buying defense stocks. Just new war strategies when party in power changes.

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baobun 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's a completely different story. The roots and branches of Iran and its current leadership go deeper and wider on a different level. Saddam had nothing in comparison. Hamas would be a cakewalk in comparison and that's apparently still going.

Hard to see this being achievable over a just a couple of years if at all.

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vFunct 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Iraq wasn't a populist movement. Iran is.