Two wars at once?

[keenduck]

If war with Iraq happens, then I'm sure it'll be over in a rather short period of time at which point a good portion of the forces centered there will likely just go right back over to the Pacific. The reason that such overwhelming numbers are centered around Iraq right now would be to proceed with an overwhelming attack that effectively wins the war in as short a period as possible so that they can get out of there quickly.

That's true enough, but my concern is that Iraq will descend into civil war/strife while we're dashing back and forth between North Korea. In a real war, fighting North Korea will require a massive land war, and we'll probably need most of our reserves there (assuming North Korea goes all out with everything they've got). That leaves Iraq uncontrolled, which would probably descend into Afghanistan-style chaos. We haven't even really helped Afghanistan, past setting up a central government that just controls the capital. I've got several articles from various newspapers and from former military men who all agree that occupying Iraq could take from 100000 to 600000 troops, for roughly ten years. It's quite a lot.

Of course, if NK folds rather quickly, the whole point is moot. (SK can handle the occupation of NK.)