DOD Study Director: Violence in Iraq for 'another five plus years'

Marines with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment conduct a foot patrol on April 20 following a suicide bombing at a market area near Forward Operating Base Riviera.

WASHINGTON — Insurgencies, such as the one the United States is fighting in Iraq, last an average of more than 10 years, according to a study commissioned by the Defense Department.

For the United States, the good news is that rebels lose more often than they win. Chances for stopping an insurgency improve after 10 years, the study shows.

Stopping the violence in Iraq will take years, Pentagon leaders have said. However, there have been few efforts to analyze and quantify insurgencies in order to draw conclusions about Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The violence in Iraq is going to go on a minimum for at least three or four more years and in reality another five plus years," said Christopher Lawrence, director of The Dupuy Institute, which is conducting the study.

Read the rest at USA Today