As President Bush announced an official end to the combat phase of the war in Iraq, local experts say conflict and fighting may still occur during the rebuilding phase of the war.

Bush announced an end to “major combat operations” in Iraq on Thursday, aboard an aircraft carrier returning to the United States. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said this is not an end to the war, merely the combat phase.

“This is not a formal, legalistic ending of combat, but [an announcement that] major combat operations have ended,” he said. “From a legal point of view, this is not the end.”

Charles Dobbs, professor of military history and assistant to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, said the combat phase is over, but rebuilding Iraq will take a long time.

“I’ve said from the beginning that the actual combat part of the war will go very quickly,” he said. “The occupation [will take] five years and 10 wouldn’t surprise me.”

Joel Moses, professor of political science and Middle East specialist, agrees while the combat has ceased, the occupation of Iraq will not be over soon.

“I predict it will be a long, long time,” he said.

Dobbs said the troops currently in Iraq will be able to return to the United States soon.

“Combat troops do not make good police officers,” he said.

Dobbs said he believes police officers, medical staff and technology and communication specialists will be brought into Iraq to help with rebuilding the country.

Moses said he agrees troops will return to the United States as the country nears the 2004 presidential election.

“I can see us coming down to 40,000 or 50,000 troops over there simply because of the election,” he said. “Bush isn’t going to want to have 300,000 troops out of the country then.”

James McCormick, chairman of political science, said he believes the combat in Iraq will continue to come to an end.

“Really it’s been several weeks of winding down and I think you’ll see military action continue to wind down,” he said.

In Fallujah, Iraq, Wednesday, U.S. troops opened fire on anti-American demonstrators they believed had shot at them. City officials who witnessed the scene said they saw no shots fired by protesters. Two Iraqis were killed and 14 were wounded in the shooting.

Dobbs said fear in U.S. troops is likely why shootings like this have happened.

“Yes, they’re going to fire because they’re scared and they don’t know who is firing at them,” he said. “Nowadays, it’s easy to fire a lot of shots in a short amount of time, though.”

McCormick said he believes some attacks on U.S. forces will still happen, even though the combat is over.

“I think there will still be these periodic attacks by some elements in Iraq,” he said.

Dobbs said he agreed some attacks will still happen.

“There are an awful lot of people with weapons that will still do stupid things,” he said.

Moses said the longer the rebuilding takes, more chances of attacks on American troops arise.

“I think we’re really between a rock and a hard place and what I mean by that is the longer we remain there the more we will become a target of Iraqi forces,” he said. “We’re very close by to hit and run attacks, explosions, suicide bombers and snipers.”

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq Wednesday, as the first top Bush administration official to do so since combat began. Rumsfeld told the Iraqi people the United States is eager to return Iraq to the control of the Iraqi people.

Moses said returning the rule to Iraq does not mean turning the country into a democracy.

“In Muslim religion, they’re told they’re not supposed to coexist with non-Muslims,” he said. “The opposite of the ruthless dictatorship is not a democracy, it’s an anarchy.”

Moses said declaring an official end to the war will be different than the traditional ways of ending war.

“In most wars, we end it by signing a treaty and obviously we can’t do that,” he said.

Moses said he is not sure if Saddam Hussein is dead or alive.

“It really doesn’t matter if he’s alive or dead,” he said. “He was viewed as a petty thug.”

Dobbs said he does believe Hussein is dead.

“I believe he and his sons are dead or I think they’d be standing up holding a copy of [a daily Baghdad newspaper] saying, ‘Ha, ha, you didn’t get me’,” he said.

— CNN, Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this story.