There's been a round of retrospectives marking the 10th Anniversary of the start of the Iraq War spreading across the interwebs. The Quiet Man and Panda Sez have weighed in- I saw the odious Piers Morgan interviewing Michael Moore about it for reasons passing understanding. Everybody has weighed in so although it's a couple of days after the actual anniversary of the invasion itself, I thought I'd throw my two cents into the mix.
I had a lot of misgivings about the invasion of Iraq going in. It didn't seem right to me, when we were engaged in military action in Afghanistan to try and invade another country entirely. Wars and occupations are complicated things, not to be done lightly and Afghanistan is called the 'graveyard of empires' for a good reason. The Soviets didn't last there, the British were chased out of there during- if we were going to occupy Afghanistan and effect regime change to prevent someone like the Taliban from becoming a haven for terrorists to launch attacks against us again, it seemed to me like invading another country was going to distract us from what we had been told was our primary mission: protecting America.
The invasion, in purely military terms was a success. Where my misgivings turned into opposition was the way the occupation itself was conducted. The crusty relics that made up the Bush Foreign Policy Establishment seemed to have dusted off an occupation manual from World War II and had convinced themselves that it was going to be just like Germany. Little kids rushing up to victorious GI's to give them flowers and get candy in return and we'd all be home by Christmas. The incompetence with which our government treated the incredibly complex balance of ethnic and sectarian tensions that were caged in an entirely artificial border that made up the nation of Iraq was staggering. I'm convinced that incompetence, that arrogance and the corruption the American people probably will never know the full extent of, extended the occupation needlessly and cost American troops their lives. That to me, is inexcusable- almost criminal.
I do remain convinced, however, that is it too soon to write the final verdict on the Iraq War. The ripple effects from the removal of Saddam Hussein are still ongoing- though I suspect foreign policy experts will be arguing about whether the invasion helped lay the groundwork for the Arab Spring Revolts or whether the Arab Spring happened in spite of the invasion for decades to come. Whatever the judgement of history, the Middle East has been forever altered by the invasion and occupation. Was it worth it? I don't know if it was and I don't know if I'm in a position to answer that question one way or the other. I didn't put on a uniform. I didn't go. I didn't risk my life.
What I do know is that the region is in turmoil, Qadaffi is gone. Mubarak is gone. Iran, despite what the media would have us believe is nowhere near as stable as we think it is- the Green Revolution should have been proof enough of that. You could argue that with so much turmoil close to home, our enemies have neither the time nor inclination to attack our country again. But I'm not sure I'd be comfortable endorsing the exportation of chaos as a foreign policy move we should get behind or support.
I'm not a pacifist either. I think wars can be justified- I just think they should be done carefully, competently and when all other avenues have been exhausted. I believe Churchill said it best: 'Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.' If the Iraq War has done anything, it's deepened my cynicism about our government. Congress laid down on the job- Republican majorities gave Bush whatever he wanted without asking tough questions- you know, without actually being a check on the executive branch. The resulting damage is something that the Republican Party is still struggling with today. No one wanted to know why we were doing what we were doing. And if our elected representatives weren't willing to do their jobs and handle the people's business then, what makes us think they're willing or able to do so now?
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