"We very much expect a long-drawn-out process, self-auditing, and plenty of political squabbling with potential class action lawsuits and attorney general lawsuits."

He pledged publicly to stay in Brooklyn and engaged in long-drawn-out talks with New York City officials about building a new ballpark.

Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $300-billion salt-to-software Tata conglomerate, in a boardroom coup in 2016, sparking a long-drawn-out legal tussle on which India's top court eventually ruled in Tata Group's favour.

“You could see how with different goals it could be a long-drawn-out war,” he said.

The Global War on Terror proved, in some sense, a long-drawn-out version of Britain's imperial Suez disaster.