The Iraq War is over. President Obama announced the end of the war at Fort Bragg yesterday. The official date of the end of the war is today, December 15. The colors have been cased. Secretary Panetta addressed Iraq and remaining troops. Iraq is a fully sovereign nation without military occupation.
The Iraq War is one of our longest wars. It started off as the shock and awe bombing of Baghdad and Americans were glued to their TVs, watching the spectacle. We watched our troops enter Iraq and begin their long trek across the desert. We honored our dead, those early victims of the war like Hopi warrior Lori Piestewa and captive Jessica Lynch who was rescued. We donned our Support the Troops attire and we saw anti-war icons like Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan on TV nightly. But something detached.
Us. We, the civilians, never really were a part of this war. Unless we were a military family, we didn’t participate. We didn’t sacrifice. We didn’t alter our every day lives. The war was 8 years, 8 months and 25 days long. We didn’t engage our souls or follow the troops. It was ‘their’ war, not ours.
So it is over. The players have all changed. Very few great ‘stars’ came out of this war. There were no Ikes, Pattons, ‘Chestys’ or Westmorelands. To my knowledge, former President Bush has not commented or spoken of the end of the war. I saw no headlines, no nurses being kissed in Times Square and no ticker tape parades.
How many lives were lost? Over 4,000? How many of our troops suffered life- altering injuries during that war? Over 30,000? How many mothers and fathers missed seeing their children grow up because of a war that refused to be over? How many kids felt the absence of a parent? Unless we were a military family, we didn’t feel those things. We barely feel them as a nation. These are things that are out of our sight, sanitized, barely trotted out on Veterans Day.
There is just something quietly still and quietly dead wrong. Our military deserves more recognition, more of our thanks. More notice, more fanfare, more SOMETHING. Are all those people who served in the Iraq War going to just merge back in to society without missing a beat? Will there be jobs for them? Will the VA be there for them with full support for their injuries, both psychological and physical at a time when our politics are fighting every penny spent and the national debt is on everyone’s tongue?
We, as a nation, need a National Day of Recognition for those who have given so much. We who barely gave at all need a special day to say thank you and to honor those who gave given 8 years, 8 months and 25 days so that we didn’t have to give at all. We need to do it sooner rather than later.
Supposedly the combat troops stationed in Iraq have left. Supposedly we won. Will there be ticker tape parades? Will there be kissing and wild excitement in Times Square? Hell no. The story is barely a blip on the radar. 50,000 troops remain in a non-combat role. Does that mean they are sitting ducks? Do they have rubber bullets?