Iraq Archive

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.

As the last U.S. soldiers leave Iraq, our nation is reflecting on the legacy of this war for returning veterans, for taxpayers, and for U.S. relations with the rest of the world. But nine years later, I’m concerned that as a nation we are simply trying to put Iraq behind us rather than learn some lessons from this conflict. Let us all not forget the biggest lesson of all: the Iraq war was a mistake.

When I deployed to Iraq in 2004, our government argued we were in Iraq to break Saddam Hussein’s ties to al Qaeda, to continue the search for weapons of mass destruction and to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. Today, very few people argue there were strong links between Iraq and al Qaeda before the U.S. invasion (al Qaeda moved in after the invasion). The CIA has acknowledged that it was the United Nations and the international community that blocked Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction. And looking at the headlines from Iraq, freedom and democracy still seems a long way away for the Iraqi people.

In the coming weeks, the last of US combat troops will be deployed out of Iraq. For those of us who worked hard to prevent and end this war it is a great relief to see this deplorable chapter of US policy coming to an end. But I find it hard to celebrate.

2011 has been a remarkable year in our lobbying for a world without war. I'm also acutely aware of how many challenges remain and how much work we have ahead in 2012.

After Thanksgiving, your Senator will cast some of his or her most important votes on war and peace of the year, so this is a crucial time to weigh in, and ask your Senator to vote to end current wars and prevent new ones.

More than 2,000 people took action on FCNL’s alert “War or Diplomacy? Senate Prepares to Vote” last week to ask Senators to support diplomacy, and reject anti-peace amendments to the international affairs funding bill.

That message is still crucial for the Senate to hear because even though the international affairs funding bill is now stalled indefinitely, and the Supercommittee folded completely, after Thanksgiving the Senate will resume debate on the military authorization act.

For me, Veterans Day is a solemn day meant for reflection, discernment and understanding. As I reflect on my time in the military and think of all those touched by violent conflict around the world—some I know, many that I do not—I cannot help but question the presence of military violence in our world and wonder, ‘at what cost?’ Those who experience war firsthand pay the costs long after the last bullet is fired. Taken in concert with the operational costs of the wars, long-term cost estimates for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan range from $4 to $6 trillion dollars—all of which will be tacked on to our national debt. And no dollar figure can ever convey the human cost of war.

According to Veterans for Common Sense, the Veterans Administration (VA) says over 440,000 Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF) veterans filed claims since 2001. With over 2 million OIF and OEF veterans and nearly 1.2 million now eligible for VA benefits, we can expect these numbers to grow. One underlying and very costly issue with these claims is that many of the injuries are difficult, if not impossible, to treat. The signature injuries of these wars—amputations, post traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) account for a large number (between 25-50%) of VA claims.

“As promised the rest of our troops will come home [from Iraq] by the end of the year” President Obama told reporters during an unceremonious press conference today. “After nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.”

“America’s war” in Iraq maybe ending, but the horrors the war represented for the Iraqi people, the memories that haunt me and so many other veterans, and the devastation inflicted will forever scar our national history. This war of choice, the premise of which was fixed around false pretense, has cost hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of lives, trillions of dollars ($823.2 billion in operational costs alone) in long term costs and, in my view, a loss in morality we may never regain. Where is the accountability; where is the justice?