Nearly nine years after U.S.-led forces began the invasion of Iraq, the last American troops left the country on Sunday. That’s hardly the end of the story, however. The final chapter of the Iraq war is yet to be written.
Leon Panetta, who has overseen the final withdrawal of forces since becoming defense secretary in June, declared last week that the cost in U.S. lives and treasure was worth it because it set Iraq on a path to democracy.
Without question, the valor, commitment and sacrifice of U.S. forces and their families, so many of whom struggled through repeated deployments, has earned them the eternal respect and gratitude of their nation. Nearly 4,500 Americans were killed in Iraq. More than 32,000 were wounded, and for many of them, and their families, the struggle will never end.
Our nation’s commitment to their care must never be compromised. The cost of that commitment is certain to push total spending on the Iraq war well beyond $1 trillion.
The outcome of U.S. efforts regarding Iraqi democracy, realistically, cannot yet be judged. The news from Baghdad on Monday suggested sectarian tensions were escalating just one day after the final departure of U.S. forces: Iraq’s Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, its highest-ranking Sunni official and a leading critic of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Charges of terrorism against al-Hashemi appeared to be politically motivated, the Associated Press reported. Iraqi democracy remains fragile at best.
We now know, thanks to the reporting of the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and others, details of the Bush administration’s rush to war. Those in charge oversold evidence that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction, and grossly underestimated the number of troops required to stabilize the nation after toppling the regime — despite private warnings from U.S. generals.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put his own arrogance on shameless display during a meeting with troops in Kuwait in 2004. When a soldier asked why troops had to rummage through Iraqi landfills to find armor for their vehicles, Rumsfeld infamously answered, “As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. …”
Launching ill-prepared forces into a war of choice, in numbers that had no realistic hope of stabilizing a nation of 25 million people, was an unforgivable show of hubris, just one of many painful lessons that are part of this war’s legacy.
Was it worth it? That question will take years, maybe decades, to answer.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
