The Iraq War is officially over today, as the last of American servicemen have left the country, but I still have some lingering thoughts about our almost nine year old conflict that need to be addressed.
1. Where is the declaration of victory? Where are the parades in Washington celebrating our successful conclusion to this war? Do we not honor our veterans anymore by publicly and robustly thanking them for them sacrifices? Americans should organize some event to cheer and be joyous that our guys won!!
2. Should we be leaving right now? I don't think our servicemen should be leaving until the Iraqi's are better fit, but I have confidence their security forces will be able to keep the peace, and that Iran's soft power will have little effect on the Iraqi government, who don't exactly like their meddling neighbors.
3. This war did not last nine years. It effectively ended in 2008 when the surge successfully destroyed the insurgency and we handed back sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Just because we had thousands of soldiers there did not mean we were actively fighting, and the same goes for Germany, Japan, and the neighboring Kuwait.
Regardless of the answers to my thoughts, our soldiers and our allies and our Iraqi friends who fought to topple Saddam and later quell the insurgency are heroes, and they deserve a heroes welcome, honor and designation wherever they go, because they didn't just fight an evil; they freed a nation and birthed freedom.
What say you?
It will be interesting to see if they truly want freedom. It is now up to them.
ReplyDelete