When I hear this, I reach for my revolver.
"Long war" = "hearts and minds" = "losing".
Comprehensive defeat of the Empire of Japan took 1338 days. The end point was our commander arriving in a C-47 and walking down the main street unmolested, and his ability to require the God-Emperor to wait upon his pleasure.
The notion that the "Islamic State" is more resilient, more resourceful, and more imbued with fighting spirit than the Empire of Japan is ludicrous.
Therefore, any "war" that is envisioned to go on longer - no, significantly longer - than 1338 days isn't really a war at all - or else the enemy has not been correctly identified and his center of gravity has not been properly defined.
Exactly correct - but accurately defining the enemy (Gulf state sponsors of terrorism) and taking the appropriate action would play merry hell with the future of the Almighty Petrodollar.