Iraq

On January 5th, President Obama and Secretary of Defense Panetta released the Pentagon's new military strategy document, designed to guide military budgets and operations for years to come. Despite the heavy rhetoric from President Obama and Secretary Panetta claiming the new strategy represents big changes, I find little more than cosmetic touch ups to the same old war policies that have gotten the US into its current economic and security problems and reaped horrendous global damage along the way.

Yes, the size of the forces will be reduced somewhat. Yes, there's a shift away from the idea of the US being able to fight two major wars simultaneously (that one has been buried in Iraq and Afghanistan already). Yes, military planners will be focusing more on Asia and the Middle East, less on Europe and Latin America. And yes, there will be changes in the budget line items (think more drones and cyberwarfare) presented to Congress.

When the U.S. pulled its last soldiers from Iraq this week, it almost went unmarked here at FCNL. Despite the fact that the U.S. march toward war 10 years ago spawned the well-known “war is not the answer” slogan found on bumper stickers and yard signs across the country, and despite the fact that FCNL’s lobbying Congress over the last 9 years helped create the timetable for withdrawing troops by December 2011 through the creation of the Iraq Study Group, we held no party.

The uncertainty of the results we got for the price we paid for the war in Iraq should give everyone pause.