IT'S A WAR ON WAR: Whatever you think about whether a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein is justified, it's pretty much a given that a war would be over with relatively quickly, somewhat comparable to the first Gulf War or last year's campaign in Afghanistan.
But that's not the impression you'd get from the stuck-in-the-'60s, Vietnam-obsessed characters who make up modern-day university faculties. A former professor of mine has gotten 350 Brandeis students to sign a pledge that they will immediately walk out of class on whatever day the US first bombs Iraq. This is because these students have been convinced by their professors that the Iraq war will be, literally, another Vietnam, one that will last for years and cause all of them to be drafted and sent to die in the streets of Baghdad. Nevermind that Saddam has neither the backing of a superpower nor a VietCong, and is likely to capitulate within a week or two, unless he's killed first.
Even worse is that these professors have not instilled in their students any sense that America is a great country, because of their unhealthy obsession with moral equivilance. Therefore, every agent of the government becomes J. Edgar Hoover, every president becomes Richard Nixon, and every war becomes Vietnam. Reality notwithstanding.
One more Iraq note: there must be a whole nation of little kids out there who will never be able to hear the name "Saddam Hussein" without first thinking of the version from the "South Park" movie. "Satan... our minyans are over-running the Earth- let's fuck to celebrate!"