BAGHDAD — America’s war in Iraq came to an unspectacular and deeply uncertain end Thursday at a ceremony held amid fortified concrete blast walls at Baghdad’s international airport, not far from a highway where U.S. troops first fought their way into the capital more than eight years ago.Read the rest here.
There were speeches paying tribute to the fallen, promising that America would not abandon Iraq and warning of challenges ahead. A brass band played, and the flag that had flown over the headquarters of the U.S. mission here was lowered for the last time.
And that was it. No pronouncements of victory, no cheers or jubilation — only a profound sense that the war’s real reckoning is yet to come even as America’s part in it draws to a close.
is the blog of an Orthodox Christian and is published under the spiritual patronage of St. John of San Francisco. Topics likely to be discussed include matters relating to Orthodoxy as well as other religious confessions, politics, economics, social issues, current events or anything else which interests me. © 2006-2024
I predict we'll be paying for the blowback and fallout from this escapade for another 30-50 years, at least. We're still dealing with our meddling in Iran from the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteI for one am glad we are out. We should have pulled out when President Bush declared victory.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes Americans and the American government think we can force feed our form of democracy down every ones throat? We tried it after WWII. Germany and Japan have democracy but not like ours. No other democracy in the world, that I know of is like ours. Even our neighbors in the Great White North don't have one like ours but no one is saying they aren't a democracy. We need to get over this "Manifest Destiny" mentality and let other countries determine their own fate.
The thing is, we're a republic. But we export this little false god named "democracy" because it's easier to control vassal states that way.
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