[RAY]

We will establish airbases in Iraq, from which we can strike anything in the Middle East, and will be there for the next 30 years. This war will likely last for the next several generations.

[Burkeman1]

Perpetual war? And I sadly agree. We will be in Iraq for decades.

[Filibuster_60]

We never had a problem with air bases - that's what carriers are for. If we went into Iraq merely to establish what we didn't lack beforehand then it wouldn't have been worth it. It's the physical presence on the ground in Iraq that makes us the dominant power in the Mideast for at least the next few years. But it's not something that can or should be maintained much longer than that, at least on the present scale.