What will be the official historical name of the current conflict(s)?

[wildflower]

The first Iraq war has come to be known as the Gulf War. It got me wondering what the current conflict in the Middle East will come to be referred to as, later on.

I've heard the following names/descriptions on radio and television:

• The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
  
• The war in Iraq (no reference to Afghanistan)
  
• Gulf War II
  
• The Second Iraq War
  
• The War on Terror (which I thought wasn't being used in the media anymore to refer to Iraq, but I just heard it today)
  

Any others?

What do you think will be the name that will go into the history books?

-wildflower

[Sanity Claws]

1. The Bush Wars

[annabanana]

25. second that . . . . . . n/t

[Horse with no Name]

2. Genocide for Oil

If history is allowed to be told by then.

[William769]

3. America's darkest hour

[gmoney]

4. The Rape of Baghdad and Looting of the US Treasury

or words to that effect...

[wildflower]

9. Somehow I think...

that might be a long one for the kids in history classes to memorize. :)

-wildflower

[wildflower]

5. Just had another thought on this.

Back in 2001, weren't we told that the war against terrorism (or terror, as most refer to it) would never end? And now Iran may be put into the mix.

So perhaps it will go on forever and thus never have to be referred to as a historical event.

I really hope not.

-wildflower

[unhappycamper]

6. The Corporate Wars or the Oil Wars. nt

[chknltl]

7. W.W.III

and make no mistake about it this one IS nuclear! That is going to be the primary attribute history will remember this one by.

[wildflower]

11. re: WW III

You have a point there; I hadn't thought of that.

-wildflower

[chknltl]

13. The Nuclear War

is another possibility, that depleted uranium which we are salting the middle east with will be around as a reminder of our heinous acts against humanity for a minimum of 4.5million years!

[Vanje]

8. The Fall of the American Empire

[El Supremo]

10. The Sixth Crusade

Ending like all the other ones.

[Bigmack]

12. The thing that scares me....

... is that there may NOT be a name for this period.

Maybe the history books... if any are written...will call this the "Pre-War Period."

[carpetbagger]

14. The Iraq War, if we're lucky.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is becomming less popular over time on official government releases and publications that I see at my federal job. Gulf War II is the most popular, but that's largely because the War in Iraq causes confusion when combat-related issues of Gulf War I vets inside Iraq is at play.

If we're not lucky, it will probably be the Mideast War.

[wildflower]

15. That's interesting; so you're not seeing "War on Terror" there? n/t

[carpetbagger]

27. Only at the annual 9/11 celebrations under the flagpole.

I try my best to avoid those. Pretty festive.

I see OIF/OEF in reference to returning soldiers and programs to integrate them into the VA. Gulf War II tends to get used when talking about health and psychological problems facing veterans, probably since there is signficant overlap between the sequelae of the two gulf wars.

I think it will be Iraq War in the end, unless it expands to Iran. My reasoning is that Vietnam became Vietnam, not Indochina, because we heard Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam all the time, for obvious reasons. Operation so-and-so fades over time, and becomes a restrictive term applying only to the actual military operaition. I think OIF will refer merely to the successful drive on Baghdad, not the whole war, just like Desert Storm refers to the month-long offensive, and not the entire war, which was Desert Shield, Storm, Provide Comfort, etc.

[mmonk]

16. If we were only involved in those two countries

maybe they could use something to that effect. However, I don't think the plan is that limited in scope. The American World War or the War for Global Hegemony?

[omega minimo]

17. Armageddon

or "Impeachment"

[chknltl]

19. If this is the biblical "Armageddon"

...then wouldn't that make Bush the biblical: "Great Deceiver"

[omega minimo]

26. WWJB?

Who would Jesus bullshit?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. The Wars of the Shrubs

[quaoar]

20. When I was in Hanoi a few years ago

I asked our tour guide what the Vietnamese called the war. He said they called it The American War.

So I guess it all depends on your perspective. We will probably call it the Iraq War. The rest of the world will likely call it something less charitable.

[MadLinguist]

21. Operation Fuck 'em All

[democraticrevolution]

22. The Pax Americana expansion..

That will be the name. And like all empires this one will either fall or correct itself.

[gumby]

23. As Bartcop might say, the BFEE

Bush Family Evil Empire.

[spindoctor]

24. 21st century imperialism

Technically we are in Gulf War III because the natives consider the war between Iraq and Iran to be the FIRST Gulf War.