Quote Originally Posted by Papewaio
I thought the 'war was over' and even the occupation period as an 'indepedent government is in charge' now they have forces in bases to help 'keep the peace.'

Much like say:
Post WWII Germany and Japan were the US still has bases. That would blow the 1247 days out another 20,000 plus.
Post Korean War, the DMZ were the US still has bases.
Bush standing on an aircraft carrier deck with his flight suit crotch strap still buckled in front of a big sign saying "mission accomplished" does not mean that the war ended. The war is still in progress. We're still fighting ex-Ba'athists, probably many of them ex-Iraqi army vets, in the streets. We're also now fighting extremists of various sects as well as members of the old Iraqi military. A "new" government, ineffective as it is, is not the same thing as ending the war either. We're still effectively at war. The fact that more soldiers have died or been wounded on an average monthly basis than before Bush declared the war over is an indication. We're more at war now than we were when we first invaded.

In Japan and Germany, both signed capitulations. The occupations afterwards were peaceful (excepting a few cases). There is no peace in Iraq. It's still war. It's been war every day since we invaded. Doesn't there have to be some kind of peace before one can claim the war is over? There hasn't been any in Iraq yet.

Do we say of the Russian war in Afghanistan that the war was only the initial invasion and the rest was just an "occupation"? No. We call the entire period that the Russians fought in Afghhanistan, from the initial invasion and takeover of the country to their final pullout - a war.

For that matter, we're still at war in Afghanistan too. In fact, several villages are under the control of the Taliban - almost 5 years later.

There wasn't any period of peace to justify saying the war was over. In Iraq, but also in Afghanistan, we're still in the process of invading and occupying. That means we're still at war, status of whatever puppet "government" we've installed not withstanding.