The Iraq War | Five Years Later and We are Still There

Our troops are coming home with severe injuries to their bodies and souls and some will never recover. I even think the politicians would like to see it end but now they must figure out how to get our troops out. If a withdrawal begins, the troops that are left will be sitting ducks to the atrocities of the Iraq War.

Many of our troops have already been deployed to Iraq for two, three, and even four tours of duty averaging eleven months each. Combat stress, exhaustion, and witnessing the horrors of the Iraq War have contributed to PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a serious set of symptoms that can lead to depression, illness, violent behavior, and suicide. The Veterans Administration is far too under-funded to fully deal with the magnitude of veterans in need of medical and mental health treatment.

The objectives of the invasion, according to U.S. President "George W. Bush" and U.K. former PM Tony Blair were "to disarm Iraq weapons of mass destruction (WMD), to end "Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." No such weapons were found. In January 2005, the Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its WMD programs in 1991 and had no WMD at the time of the invasion.

The US occupation of Iraq has proven to be unable to prevent sectarian violence and halt an escalation towards a civil war. Despite having an average of 140,000 troops in country since the occupation began; internal violence and attacks against civilians and Iraqi security forces have been steadily increasing. Overwhelming civilian casualties are a daily occurrence in Iraq despite attempts in training and technological sophistication. Civilian death is both a direct and indirect result of United States participation in the Iraq War. Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths number over 100,000. Over 100 civilians die every day in Baghdad alone. Troops returning from the Iraq War have stated that the US occupation is a primary motivation for the insurgency and global religious extremism. People of the Islamic faith are encouraged to resist America’s policies internationally based on how they perceive our military operations in the Middle East, especially the Iraq War.

Whoever takes on the huge task of becoming President during this tumultuous time will have their work cut out for them. One in four people disagree with how President Bush has handled the Iraq War even if they supported the war in the beginning. Our military is being exhausted by repeated deployments, involuntary extensions, and activations of the Reserve and National Guard.

The majority of troops in Iraq right now are there for at least their second tour. Deployments to the Iraq War are becoming longer; many of our service members face involuntary extensions and recalls to active duty. Longstanding policies to limit the duration and frequency of deployments for our part-time National Guard troops are now being overturned to allow for repeated, back-to-back tours in the Iraq War. These repeated, extended combat tours are taking a huge toll on our troops, their families, and their communities.

Only one of the three candidates has any military experience, John McCain who was a prisoner of war POW, during the Vietnam War. Those of us who are old enough see great similarities between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War which continued through my entire childhood. I just don’t know if Clinton or Obama have the experience that it is going to take to get us out of the Iraq War. I have listed their basic viewpoints on the war, some of which are very contradictory.

Hillary Clinton: Opposed troop increase. No timetable for completing withdrawal. Voted for war.

Barack Obama: Combat troops out in 16 months. Spoke against war at start.

John McCain: Early critic of how the war was fought, backed troop increase. Opposes scheduled pullout.

McCain directly confronted the biggest obstacle to his White House ambitions: his unyielding support of a war that more than two-thirds of the country has turned against. "I understand the frustration caused by our mistakes in this war. I sympathize with the fatigue of the American people," he told cadets at the Virginia Military Institute. "But I also know the toll a lost war takes on an army and a country. It is the right road. It is necessary and just." McCain cited "the first glimmers" of progress from the president's "surge" of troops into Baghdad The former Vietnam prisoner of war warned against "false optimism" and urged Americans to have patience with the military's commanders as they pursue a new strategy in the Middle East "that deals with how things are . . . and not how we wish them to be."

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both support a withdrawal of troops and state their ideas of how they would accomplish this but whether these are feasible or not remains to be seen. They both support change which the American people desperately need. If not for the Iraq War, this could be a very exciting time in US politics; History is being made, we could have the first black President or the first woman President. No one is excited though, our economy is struggling without any end in sight, and people are sad and hopeless. I just hope that whoever we elect in November has the strength to do what has to be done to create the change.

My personal opinion is that we have no business being in the Iraq War at this time. I, like most Americans, at first thought it was necessary for our national security. The American people have not benefitted from the Iraq War. Lives are shattered and loved ones have been lost. I speak from experience as my only brother is a veteran of the Iraq War. He went into the war as a proud American soldier but has returned as a destroyed man. Those who have benefitted the most in this conflict are those who suffered the least; the multinational oil companies and the contractors with the no-bid reconstruction contracts.

To voice your opinion on the Iraq War and other relevant topics check out TellMeYourIdea.com. A site where you can debate politics in an unscripted, non-partisan, politically relevant & unfiltered webosphere where citizen contributors engage in a political discussion on issues such as global warming, the Iraq war, presidential candidates, etc., on a national, state or local level. Your opinions are relevant at www.tellmeyouridea.com

Jill is a political savvy blog enthusiast. Jill enjoys sharing her opinions and political discussion debating with fellow future-politicians.

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