The War in Iraq, Seven Years Later

In January 2003 I left home for combined basic and infantry training at Fort Benning, Ga. I had every intention of going to Afghanistan with the army to fight the war on terror. Unfortunately the invasion of Iraq began half way through my training, and I knew then that Iraq was my destination.

Unlike the majority of Americans at the time I never believed any of the propaganda about Iraq. It was a war I did not agree with. Today, seven years later, it is known to everyone that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and Iraq had no ties to Al Quaeda. However, whether or not the war was necessary, we have accomplished as much as can be expected.

With the name of the war being changed from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn as of September 1 we are moving on from the war that has plagued the country for seven years to a time of new beginnings for a country that needs an era of peace.

The fact of the matter is that Iraq is a much more stable environment than it was when I was there in 2004 and 2005. Coalition casualties are minimal, the Iraqi government is taking on an identity of its own apart from the U.S., and Iraqi forces are taking over the duty of defending their country.

Many people still look at the Iraq War, as it is now, as a burden upon the U.S., but I remember being there in November 2004, the bloodiest month of the conflict, when we lost 141 coalition soldiers. I look at it now and see, with the month of February drawing to an end, the loss of only 4 soldiers in a month. As far as I am concerned the deaths of my brethren, or lack there of, is the most important point of the war. When soldiers are no longer dying, we are winning.

The post Hussein government of Iraq has faced assassination attempts and successes. When I was there the governor of Baghdad was killed in my unit’s area of operations after he refused our protection. Now the government is secured without the need for U.S. protection.

I remember the first government election in January 2005 when our patrols were spread out all over Baghdad in attempt to stop the insurgency from interrupting the election process. The violence continued the next day. Iraqis were afraid to vote. While there was some violence during the last elections which took place January 2009, there was no major violence reported.

Another election will be held in March, and while there is some skepticism about what will transpire the trend so far is that the violence will be minimal. Hopefully this will continue to lead to a more unified Iraq as has been built by Nouri al-Maliki over the last few years. While he has excluded Sunni candidates from this election due to their ties to Hussein’s Baath Party, he has also quelled secular violence by not siding through his actions with either Sunnis or Shias.

Although Sadrist candidates, candidates backed by Muqtada al-Sadr, have grown in popularity it is still likely at this point that al-Maliki or another non-Sadrist candidate will be prime minister and hopefully continue what has started with a U.S. allied, bi-secular government.

The Iraqi Army and Police have taken control of the majority of security throughout Iraq allowing coalition forces to ease back their role in the country. Many of Iraqis believe that this security is inadequate because of several bombings throughout the country, but violence overall is still down from what it once was.

These security forces, while not yet at the level of the coalition, are doing an excellent job compared to what they were capable of when I was working with them. They will continue to get better as they gain more experience that they did not gain when relying on coalition forces.

Iraq may not be where it needs to be in the end of all this, but it has advanced as far as the U.S. and its allies can take it. The death toll is down, the government is becoming self sufficient and the security forces have all but taken control from the coalition. It is up to Iraq now. As far as I am concerned this is a win for the U.S.

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