Back on this day, the 18th of January in 2003, millions of Americans and people across the world protested the invasion of Iraq by American and coalition forces. For the next few months protests would continue whether at foreign naval bases or right here on Main Street USA. Nevertheless, under the banner of freedom and a quest to find and destroy Saddam Hussein's Weapons Of Mass Destruction we entered into a war that seemingly has no end even as it has been declared over twice.
Those of us who rejected and protested the war were declared un-American and un-patriotic. We were told to go join those "filthy French" if we had something to say. (Remember Freedom Fries?) At the time, I was a little young. A sophomore in high school, I rejected the idea that we must invade a foreign country because our CIA and our President said there were WMDs. And don't forget Saddam's friendliness with Al-Qaeda
I was belittled by my classmates, all the while my Republican teacher smirked from behind his desk and his bloated belly. I decided from then on to keep my opinions to myself. It seemed pointless to go against the grain of American exceptionalism.
Fast-forward a decade or so, no WMD's were found, no biological weapons project had been underway. Not even a sliver of evidence that Saddam Hussein had any ties to Al-Qaeda, and now, more than ten years later we are still facing the repercussions of our nation's decision to invade Iraq.
The destabilizing effect our invasion has had on the middle-east is just one of many reasons we now see ISIS and other extremists at war with nearly everyone. Violence begets violence, and as I foresaw many years ago as a student, I now see every day in the news.
It's not just the cost of the war to our national debt, though that has certainly been devastating, but what about the cost in lives? Not just our own soldiers, though many have died or come home with PTSD or some other disability but also the cost of lives to the Iraqis and the radicalizing effect that the war has had on its people.
Millions of Iraqi's have been uprooted from there homes, hundreds of thousands possibly dead. The suffering was never worth it no matter how you look at it. Whether you are an American soldier missing a limb, suffering from PTSD or night terrors, or even an Iraqi civilian, maybe a child, who, growing up in this perpetual state of war, has never known stability but instead fear has been the only constant.
Whether it's drones flying over head, or foreign soldiers kicking in doors looking for terrorists, not many Iraqi children have grown up knowing whether tomorrow will bring food and shelter or death and loss.
On this day, let us remember our folly. Our interventionist middle east strategy and what it has gotten us. Let us remember those soldiers whose lives were lost, all for a war where the reasoning behind it all never quite panned out. What have we gained from such an ill-thought out war? Let us not forget before we allow our nation's leaders to yet again march us into another never ending death trap like Iraq. (Or right back TO Iraq)
Let us Remember and Never Forget.