It’s been nearly a decade since George W. Bush so famously declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. Considering that his speech came less than two months after the initial invasion, it’s fair to say it was a bit premature. But today, after eight years, 270 days and thousands of deaths, the Iraq War is officially over. Finally, we’ve earned that infamous Mission Accomplished banner. Right?Before anything, we must thank the nearly 1.5 million American service members who spent time in Iraq. According Pentagon statistics from last Friday, 4,487 Amercian service members were killed and another 32,226 wounded over the course of operations. Think about that. Then think of the thousands more who don’t fall into those numbers, those who will be stuck facing PTSD, those having trouble assimilating again into civilian life, and, if nothing else, those who lost time with their friends in family to fight in our country’s name in a distant land.But as the highly politicized war comes to a largely-symbolic end (most of our soldiers have been out of the country for some time), it’s time to reflect on what’s changed. Plenty of people seem to be talking, as the war’s end is still the top-aggregated story on Google News. Some noteworthy highlights:Choire Sicha, writing for The Awl, thinks everything is being brushed under the rug:And now we get to prematurely place behind us another quite troubling incident in our recent history. Secret prisons? Eh, let’s forget about those. Torture? Let’s just move on. A incredible transformation of huge chunks of the military into a privately contracted mercenary army? La la la la la! Years and years of National Guard reservists being unexpectedly called up for active duty in Iraq? Oh well!George Calloway, in The Guardian, wrote that the seemingly-endless war is ending in what seems like defeat:So the Yanks are going home. Apart from the thousands of their servicemen and women whose lifeblood they are leaving in the sands of Iraq, and the tens of thousands too maimed or otherwise damaged to make it back to home and hearth. And minus the trillion-plus of dollars in treasure they have expended on destroying an Arab country (which may have lost a million souls and seen three millions off into exile), fanning the flames of fanaticism, making Iran more powerful, and unleashing a wave of sectarianism throughout the Muslim world. Nice work, but hardly “Mission Accomplished”, as the melancholy valediction delivered by President Obama at Fort Bragg this week made clear to the discerning.The Washington Post notes that Iraqis are realizing they are on their own, even though U.S. troops have been out of sight for some time:Many Iraqis still find it hard to believe that the U.S. troops are actually leaving, after a war in which more than 100,000 Iraqi lives were lost and more than $800 billion was spent by U.S. taxpayers on the military effort and reconstruction. At the war's peak in 2007, there were 170,000 U.S soldiers in Iraq, although that number had dwindled to 50,000 over the past year.Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in his speech marking the end of the war, said the U.S. still stands by Iraq:Let me be clear: Iraq will be tested in the days ahead — by terrorism, and by those who would seek to divide, by economic and social issues, by the demands of democracy itself. Challenges remain, but the U.S. will be there to stand by the Iraqi people as they navigate those challenges to build a stronger and more prosperous nation.Alex Rossmillier, writing in the New York Daily News, says its an honorable end and a notable accomplishment for the current administration:That end is a momentous achievement for the current administration. It is also an accomplishment for the activists, politicians, current and former service members and others who advocated for this conclusion; those individuals, many of whom faced shameful accusations of defeatism and a lack of patriotism, can take satisfaction from the result of their efforts.Then again, it seems like a lot of places sure aren’t saying anything at all. It’s a war that’s been questioned, fought, bumbled and scrutinized aggressively for nearly a decade now. Shouldn’t we all be rushing to the ticker tape parade to celebrate the return of our heroic troops? Seriously. Shouldn’t we all be cheering the end of an absurdly costly endeavor while discussing in depth how we got into the mess in the first place? Instead, it seems like the end of the war has been met with a general melancholy. Sure, it’s partly a factor of the drawdown being so gradual. Yet I think it’s largely due to a general sense that we’ll never be done in the Middle East. The end of the war in Iraq doesn’t seem like much when we consider Iran is still lurking. Symbolism and hyperbole aside, are we ever going to truly say “Mission Accomplished?” Right now, it doesn’t seem that way.
Advertisement
Obama marking the end of the war.
Advertisement
Advertisement