Last “Combat Troops” Leave Iraq

I feel like I should be writing something about this story, with a lengthy retrospect on everything we’ve written on Dean’s World about that conflict, which I supported from the beginning and never changed my mind about–and still have not.

There are times I feel a little guilty about this subject, but only for one reason: once it became clear that President Obama wasn’t going to take us into the sheer lunacy of simply withdrawing us, and was, despite his rhetoric, going to follow essentially the same plans set in place by his predecessor, I stopped being so worried about it. That also occurred during a time of my life where I had to re-prioritize a lot of things; for a while there I barely had the energy to write anything at all.

But I will say for the record that it still deeply disappoints me that this celebration–and it should be celebrated, as a major positive milestone–that this is all still covered in such mute tones at all by the press. I noticed that most of the negative coverage on Iraq pretty much stopped once Obama was safely in office; hard not to be cynical in noting that, given that we know how most of the press voted in that election. Once their guy was in, they didn’t care anymore. But then, the military’s part of the issue too; they, wisely or unwisely (your call) pretty much stopped trying very hard to get much press attention, under the apparent assumption that if they couldn’t get positive coverage they would rather have practically none.

Still it is amazing. Despite popular perception, by almost any rational, objective metrics you can come up with, this has been, to date, the most successful large-scale military campaign in American history since World War II. And, by almost any objective standard you’d care to name, Iraq itself is a much better place, for ordinary Iraqis (except former Ba’athists, i.e. members of Saddam’s former ruling fascist party, and even arguably for many of them). Rarely does any of this get looked at; the focus is always there with the unstated assumption: war can never be good, can never be noble, the horrible things that happen there can never be toward a greater end. We must merely be somber and treat it all like something tragic, rather than incredible sacrifices and bravery and tragedy in the midsts of simply astounding triumph.

I guess that’s what happens when we will allow there to be no good guys or bad guys in war.

In reality, of course, John McCain had it right when he stated the obvious in the 2008 campaign–it’s highly likely we’ll have American troops in that country for a hundred years. That’s not a pessimistic projection. It is also true what the generals are saying: while full-time combat troops will probably not be going back to Iraq, there will still be firefights our men and women are involved in for quite some time. It was to be expected. All of this was stuff I expected to be true before we went in. What has astounded, or should astound, more than anything has been how minimal the loss of life has been, how minimal the destruction has been, and how amazing the reconstruction is. The amazing blooming of freedoms there, the amazing positive aspects of what happens to a people freed from fascism facing, not a perfect new world, but an obviously and measurably better one, but which will still take decades of work to become a truly safe and free place.

What we see: there was a car bombing today. That tells the story, that ends it: it was all a tragedy, and it’s all our fault. Because here was a car bombing, there was a shooting. At this election center, somebody was shot at. It’s as if there can be no such thing as a before/after comparison between the two, no looking at what was purchased for the cost that was given.

I still have no regrets. I still say “hail homecoming heroes, and well done.” I wish the rest of America would too. But some will be determined to make this all a statement of horror somehow, or to lash out either at the previous administration, or the current one, rather than simply saying, “yeah, the good guys won, and the good guys did good.” Not always, not everywhere–there are always mistakes, there are always regrets, in an enterprise this vast–but the numbers don’t lie. Iraq, and the world, are a better place today than they were 8 years ago. It would be nice if we could try celebrating that.