The End Is Near In Iraq, But The Cost Of War Continues To Rise

Six years and more than 4000 dead American soldiers later, President Barack Obama made good on one of his major campaign promises: Ending the United States' military commitment to Iraq.

The President wants to withdraw around 100,000 soldiers by August 31, 2010. After that, 35-to-50,000 troops would be left behind to assist the Iraqi army in non-combat roles.

Is this "mission accomplished", as President George W. Bush declared to his everlasting regret? Not really. Things may have calmed down in Iraq, but that doesn't mean the embattled country has become a safe place to take the wife and kids.

It also doesn't necessarily mean those soldiers are coming home. Instead, some of them will be sent to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has again reared its ugly head, and the U.S.-backed government is teetering on the brink. There's also the matter of finding Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be holed up in the mountains somewhere. And at least 650 Americans have been killed in action so far.

Next door is Pakistan, a critical U.S. ally that is getting more and more dangerous. The government there recently agreed to let the Taliban control the northern parts of the country, conceding that the military couldn't handle them. Terrorists attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team that was playing matches in the country. And Pakistan has nukes. Need we say more?

Should those American soldiers not survive the battlefield, you will now be able to watch them come home in flag-draped coffins, courtesy of the Pentagon. (Provided, of course, that the families give their OK.) The lifting of the ban on news media coverage of those ceremonies was a belated victory for those who believe we should witness the true cost of America's conflicts, whether they're justified or not. Say what you want about the possible exploitation of dead soldiers and their families, but really--if you've seen one flag-draped coffin, you've seen them all.

Dover Air Force Base in Delaware isn't the only place where you can find the true cost of war. You can see it in military hospitals where they try to piece broken lives back together, families who have had to make major adjustments when one or more parents may or may not come back alive, and society still divided over the worth of it all.

The fighting may soon end, but we're about to pay the price for political arrogance.