10 Years Later

We remember this week the invasion of American troops into Iraq. That was still a time when patriotic fervor post 9-11 was still very high. We were led to believe by both the Bush and Clinton administrations, as well as, intelligence agencies from France, Germany, England and other countries that there were WMD's in Iraq. After all, Saddam Hussein used them on the Kurds and Iranians in the late '80s and early 90s.

What went wrong?

We were welcomed as heroes by the people on April 10, their saviors, their liberators, as our tanks and soldiers marched into Baghdad. For days, even though there were some skirmishes outside the city, the "era of good feelings" seamed to permeate through Iraq.

Soon, though, that would change.

The first event that helped change the feelings of the Iraqis was the landing of President Bush onto the aircraft carrier with the sign "Mission Accomplished" from the mast. That, I believe, turned Iraqi opinion of our troops from liberators to conquerors. That didn't sit well with the people.

The second event was the horror of Abu Grahib. When the video came out showing American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, negative opinion became elevated. Our soldiers acted like Mini-Saddams, beating prisoners in the same prison Saddam's Revolutionary Guard used as torture chambers against Saddam's political enemies. The significance was not lost on Iraqis.

The third event was the delay in helping Iraqi moderates on all sides set up an interim government. This delay helped opposition forces turn the people against Americans, no matter what good actions our troops were doing, whether it were distribution of food and water, first aid and surgeries for the ill and infirm, the training of Iraqis to be soldiers and policemen, albeit not like they were under Saddam, and other good works. It became civil war-like.

There were other events that occurred in the days immediately following the end of battle, but none more glaring than there was no post-war plan. The effect of the short war, barely three weeks in total, caught American leadership by surprise. At that point, we won the war and lost the peace.

No matter what actions we took afterwards to stabilize Iraq, it was all for naught. The government is in disarray, with the leading factions fighting each other, Kurds against Shiites, Shiites against Sunni, Sunni against Kurds. And Iran is watching.

We are making similar mistakes on Afghanistan, and the actions are comparable: Afghan soldiers shooting American trainers, abuse by our military against natives, the government falling into chaos. Americans are getting ready to leave by the end of next year, and what will be left behind? It really too late to fix the errors done since 2001 in Afghanistan, and again, Iran is watching.

It caused billions of dollars and untold Iraqi and American blood since the invasion of Iraq. Some say it was all for oil, but it was not, because only now are the Iraqi pumps, refineries and tankers coming online. Others say it was revenge by Bush 43 for the negatives hoisted on to  Bush 41 by his adversaries but it was not, because many, including his successor, hold 41 in high regard. Still others say it was to find WMD's but none were found.

No matter the reason to go into Iraq, we are not there now and we still lost billions of dollars, lost thousands of military and are caring for even more thousands of injured. What is the lesson of 10 Years Later?

History is still working through the guts of that question. And this answer may not be favorable to us