The Iraq War, 2003-2011

Image via WikipediaJust when you thought the war in Iraq would never end, President Barack Obama announced Friday it would do just that by January 1.  That's nearly nine years, two U.S. presidents, over four thousand dead American soldiers (32,000 wounded), thousands more Iraqis killed, billions of dollars spent and one executed dictator.

The Obama administration would like you to believe that the war had come to a satisfying, yet honorable conclusion.  In reality, they failed to come to an agreement with the Iraqi government on keeping a small number of American soldiers for another couple of years, strictly for security purposes.  So the war ends with a whimper, not a bang.

This was a war that never should have happened.  There never was any evidence that Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destructiuon, harbored terrorists, or had anything to do with the events of September 11, 2001.  Instead of concentrating on the war they already had going in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush and his cronies decided this was the time to remore an "evildoer" from power.

After all the "shock and awe" caused by bombs raining down on Baghdad and environs resulted in Hussein's regime being toppled and his eventual capture, that's when the violence really began.  Insurgents planted roadside bombs, refugees fled, a version of Al-Qaeda appeared, and every day became a living hell for American soldiers and private contractors.  Back home, reports surfaced that the Bush administration lied about the reasons for going to war, that this was just a money-making operation for Blackwater and the oil companies, and that the Iraqi government itself was shaky.

After Obama became president, he added more troops in an effort to stabilize the situation in Iraq.  It must have worked because, as more forces came home, the country got a lot more peaceful.

Now, with much of the American military on their way out, with the exception of some contractors and guards to watch over the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqis really are on their own.  The government is still shaky, the military and police force aren't 100 per cent ready, and there's still the possibility of another civil war or Iranian invasion.  Whatever happens, Uncle Sam won't be around to keep the peace any more.

Which leaves us with another ongoing war in Afghanistan, now a decade old with even less reason for it to continue.  Eventually, American soldiers will be coming home from there, too.  And, as Gerald Ford once put it when he became President during another time of crisis, our long national nightmare might soon be over.