The War Is Over--If You Want It*

After 9 years,President Obama declared the Iraq War over yesterday. Over 1 million Americans served there,4,500 were killed, 32,000 were wounded and it cost $800 billion (not counting the interest, the cost of medical care for the future). Over 100,000 Iraqis were killed and another several million are in exile in Syria, Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East.

This was the first of the pre-emptive wars waged by the United States and it violated the historical military doctrines going back to the founding of our country.

On Rachel Maddow's show, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Secretary of State Clin Powell's chief assistant, said that the Republican response to the end of the war "may cause me to leave my party". 77% of Americans support President Obama's decision to leave Iraq and that includes 61% of Republicans.

Republican politicians claim that the Obama Administration could have kept 25,000 -100,000 troops left behind, if it wanted. As Joe Biden pointed out on Rachel Maddow that this was not an option. The administration was open to the idea of keeping 10,000 troops maximum behind for training purposes but that the government would not agree to give these troops legal indemnity and "that was the deal-breaker." But even Leon Panetta weighed in that the administration never envisioned any large contingent of troops left behind. Mitt Romney stated that this was a strategic blunder by President Obama.

The most visceral reaction to the end of the war was John McCain's statement on the Senate floor," I believe history will judge Obama's leadership with the scorn and disdain it deserves."

Normally, you would expect that President Obama would get a slight bump in his approval ratings for ending a war that was divisive and that the American people had turned against. But like the killing of Osama bin Laden, any bump would be illusory. The President sent out an e-mail touting this as another promise he has kept.

Spookily, there has been no word from the biggest enthusaist for the Iraq War, George W. Bush. His name has vanished from the one event, which he said history would judge him by. Conservatives have started criticising President Obama for his fulsome praise of our troops as if the commander-in-chief should not speak at Fort Bragg. While there is an unease among the Right about the Iraq war at this moment,there are trying to lay the blame on President Obama if the violence escalates in the country.

By the end, the Iraqis didn't believe we would leave. Americans were considered occupiers and our military presence there was untenable. That the United States kept its word is significant and maybe will pacify the Iraqis in the near future. We leave behind a country with very fragile political institutions, sectarian and ethnic violence and rampant official corruption. But we did leave.

The Iraq War dominated a decade of our lives but in a very strange way. Very few of us were called to sacrifice for the war. The wealthy received tax breaks and we were told to go shopping. A very small percentage of Americans and their families will be changed by this event forever. If anything, this should teach us that prolonged wars can be waged now without the type of repercussions or social upheavals of the Vietnam period. That is the opposite purpose of the all-volunteer army, which was created to avoid prolonged war. While one should draw the lesson that such a war should be avoided at all cost and that it will hollow out our military in case we need it to defend against a real enemy, it seems some in Washington have drawn the opposite conclusion.

Secretary of Gates in his valedictory speech at West Point warned future Presidents not to get involved in another major war in the Middle East. he called the idea "crazy".

The good news about the war was that--by and large--the American military did an honorable job and served the country well. Luckily there is no residual resentment of those who served. But the war ends without an enemy surrendering, without the violence stopping, without a clear victory and not a sign of defeat. We are still a country mobilized for war. But the Iraq war seemed to go on for about five years without any clear purpose.
What should be an amazing triumph of President Obama, who opposed the war and campaigned on bringing it to an honorable end,looks like a hollow photo-op.

The American people now believe that there are 3 major accomplishments of the Obama presidency: Killing bin Laden; ending the Iraq war; and preventing another Depression. I would add a few like the health reform bill. But the almost decade-long war will soon vanish from our memory. But before it does, I hope our policy-makers reflect on the lessons it teaches.