Iraq combat could outlast Obama’s term

Thomas E. Ricks, the nation’s best-known defense correspondent, writes in a book out this week that many Iraq veterans believe the U.S. is likely to have “soldiers in combat in Iraq until at least 2015 – which would put us now at about the midpoint of the conflict.”

That would mean American forces would remain in danger past President Obama’s terms, into his second term if he wins reelection or the 45th presidency if he doesn’t.

1) I wonder if anyone will ask him about this in the primetime press conference tonight (doubt it)
2) If we’re only halfway through, then will Code Pink, Answer, and the DNC still oppose the war as fervently as they did in the first half, or was that opposition really just a catalyst for venting their opposition to President Bush (thereby making American fighting forces mere tools for their political venting)?