Quagmire
A little chuckle, courtesy of Wikipedia:
Quagmire: quagmire is an English noun, derived from “quake” + “mire”, meaning literally “shaky, miry ground.” (See swamp.) It is frequently used metaphorically to describe military campaigns characterized by small hope of victory, poorly-defined objectives and/or no clear exit strategy. Its use in political debate emerged during the Vietnam War. More recent users of the term may choose it specifically to allude to the Vietnam conflict. Many opponents of the Iraq war refer to the conflict as a quagmire.