President George W. Bush declared “The War in Iraq is over” aboard an aircraft carrier six weeks after his pre-emptive invasion of the country when superior U.S. airpower decimated Saddam Hussein’s Army and Republican Guard and American troops entered Baghdad unopposed by insurgent fighting forces and were greeted with cheers by Iraqi citizens. That was nine years ago so this declaration by President Barack Obama must be the “official” end of America’s combat role as military forces leave the country. Of course, there is still a large diplomatic corps of 16,000 personnel and 4,000 security contractors; not to mention the largest embassy in the world that is operational and located right in Baghdad. The thing is, there is no closure in the deaths of 4,500 soldiers and 33,000 injured troops who have suffered traumatic injuries both physical and mental. One cannot help but reflect on the nonsense of it all because there were no WMD’S that posed a “CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER” to America’s national security, no ties existed between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, no hijacker was linked to Iraq, and come to think of it, how far is Iraq from the United States; I mean, its not like Cuba 90 miles off the coast of Florida?
One cannot forget about Bush administration officials who dragged us into this ‘quagmire’ (un-winnable war) like George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and George Tenet. Osama bin-Laden was cornered in the mountains of Tora-Bora in Pakistan but instead of American forces going in to get him the Pakistani military was given that responsibility and somehow he was able to get away. Ironically, this is the same country where Osama bin-Laden was eventually killed by U.S. Special Forces nine years later, so Iraq wasn’t even necessary and the blood of thousands of our soldiers didn’t need to happen. Not only that, but a weaker Iraq divided among Sunni, Shiite and Kurds means a stronger Iran only emboldens the regime toward the development of an atomic bomb; which will not only be destabilizing to the Middle East but the uncertainty or unpredictability will also rattle financial markets worldwide.
So, what was or is the price of victory- Saddam Hussein and his sons are dead, Iraqi political elections (Democracy Middle East style/“Nation building”), access to Iraqi oil? America may have won the battle but the thing is when a War is over normally there is a formal declaration of surrender, so either one of two things must be true: The enemy is still continuing to fight or there was never any ‘real’ war in the first place. It is a painful thing to say, but it appears that those brave and patriotic soldiers who gave the fullest measure of devotion were just “cannon fodder” and incidental pieces or pawns on a chess board to fulfill the agenda of those ‘special interests’ who are powerful, influential and wealthy and who manipulate world economies and governments, and unfortunately the deaths of other people is just the cost of doing business.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
December 16, 2011
robertrandle51@yahoo.com
