Operation Iraqi Freedom is Over

Today, at five in the afternoon the war in Iraq came to an end. At least for the portion of it that has involved United States combat brigades. Fifty thousand men and women will stay behind until 2011 to continue to help rebuild and to train Iraqi forces, but the United States has withdrawn its combat forces.

It’s strange. I can still recall when the invasion was underway in 2003, I was a Junior in high school. I remember watching the embedded reporters and what they were showing, and hoping that things would not spiral horribly out of control. I remember the gut wrenching feeling of dread as the report went out “We’ve just crossed the red line and need to get on our gear in case of a chemical attack”. In the end, no weapons of mass destruction were found of any consequence, but rather some old shells in a warehouse whose agents were long past their effective use by date. Relics of the 1980s war between Iraq and Iran.

“From this desk, seven and a half years ago, President Bush announced the beginning of military operations in Iraq. Much has changed since that night. A war to disarm a state became a fight against an insurgency. Terrorism and sectarian warfare threatened to tear Iraq apart. Thousands of Americans gave their lives; tens of thousands have been wounded. Our relations abroad were strained. Our unity at home was tested.”

Truer words have never been spoken, and it has brought back so many memories of this war from the view on the homefront. A nation tore itself into partisan politics and into demonstrations not seen in scale since the Vietnam War; but this time, despite the difference of public opinion, the United States did not surrender unto despair and run from the enemy. Our post-9/11 unity was seemingly cast asunder in 2003 and the years that had followed, but still we remain as one nation. We should not allow our own sectarian views to lead unto sectarian violence as some would wish, on both sides of the issues.

Meanwhile a regime was quickly toppled, looting began in earnest, and warlords rose and fell like the tumbling of a leaf in the wind. The insurgency gained ground; things were spiraling out of control like never before predicted. Then slowly but surely things were turned around. Iraqis came out in droves despite violence and threats of violence, braving the face of death itself they came to vote for their own leaders, many of them for the first time in their lives. Iraq sent athletes to the Olympic Games, and though they won no medals, their pride at being there was self evident. Tribal groups and village leaders turned against the Insurgency for the most part, as it was decided that enough Muslims had been killed by their erstwhile terrorist brothers; also as people realized perhaps, that their children deserved a future that did not involve certain death. Slowly the Iraqi army supplanted the United States combat troops instead of merely acting beside them.

“So tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.

This was my pledge to the American people as a candidate for this office. Last February, I announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of Iraq, while redoubling our efforts to strengthen Iraq’s Security Forces and support its government and people. That’s what we’ve done.”

Now it is history’s turn to be the judge of these words from this President. Will they ring as hollow to us in the coming years as those of President Bush when he declared major combat over and the mission in Iraq to be accomplished? The wording is quite similar, but makes an even more jarring and sensational claim. Operation Iraqi Freedom, our long conflict of an era where treaties of surrender are a thing of the past, is over.

I suppose I have little else to say for this post, except to close with the President’s own closing remarks.

“ In an age without surrender ceremonies, we must earn victory through the success of our partners and the strength of our own nation. Every American who serves joins an unbroken line of heroes that stretches from Lexington to Gettysburg; from Iwo Jima to Inchon; from Khe Sanh to Kandahar -- Americans who have fought to see that the lives of our children are better than our own. Our troops are the steel in our ship of state. And though our nation may be travelling through rough waters, they give us confidence that our course is true, and that beyond the pre-dawn darkness, better days lie ahead.
Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America, and all who serve her.”