Not wars, eh? What would make them wars?
Was Vietnam a war? Korea?
The first Gulf ____? (don't want to call it a war unless you agree)
1 a (1) : a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations.
Was Vietnam a war? Korea?.
Yes, and yes
The first Gulf ____? (don't want to call it a war unless you agree)
Yes. Afghanistan is not even close. Iraq now, although it doesn't meet the criteria, because of the tremendous investment in military and civilian assets, I'm not going to quibble with calling it a war but in fact it is a foreign power supported insurgency combined with sectarian religious extremist in-fighting. There is also a strong element of gang mafia-style violence such as conducted by Al-Sadr and his thugs under the guise of religion. The main problem now though, is Iran. If they were somehow taken out of the picture it would look much different than it does now.