On March 20, 2003 the United States and UK launch a multinational coalition of armed forces in Iraq. Mission objective: Eliminate potential Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). Remove Saddam Hussein from power.
Stabilize Iraq’s economy and build up their government.
Seven years, two presidents and 4,400 U.S. military casualties later, the war is now coming to an end. Several factors are playing a part in this decision to end the war, but is the mission completed (at least officially)? Is there peace?
President Barack Obama announced the end of the combat mission in Iraq in his speech to the nation last Tuesday, Aug, 31. He is keeping his campaign promises to end the war in Iraq and bring the thousands of U.S. troops stationed there back home. “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over,” Obama said. “Ending the war is not only in Iraq’s interest – it is in our own.”
As Americans ending the war is in our interest for many reasons. For starters, the U.S. economy is struggling. Since the start of the Iraq war in 2003 to the present, more than $745 billion has been spent both directly and indirectly on the war. That large amount of money spent in only seven years time makes it practically impossible for the federal budget not to suffer. Because of this, the government has to take loans from foreign lenders, which in return lowers the value of the dollar. To top it off, the unemployment rate has reached up to 10 percent in the U.S. since Operation Iraqi Freedom began, making it the largest unemployment rate in America in more than 50 years.
“There is an obsessive amount of spending by the government anyway, and any extra money spent on the war itself is somewhat counter productive towards building back our economy,” senior film major Kristi Marsili said when she was asked how she felt about the affect of the Iraq War on the U.S. economy. “If you’re going to spend money, spend it where you need it the most – here at home.”
The U.S. would indubitably benefit from pulling out of Iraq completely, but is Iraq fully prepared to run its own government? Even if the Iraqis were, they still have another year before the U.S. will completely be cleared out of Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011 due to a bilateral agreement that prevents U.S. troops from staying in Iraq past that time.
Until that time, there will be 50,000 non-combat U.S. troops remaining in Iraq as advisers to train and support the Iraqi military as they grow. How do UT students feel about the fact that so many U.S. soldiers are going to be in Iraq without the support of combat troops?
“Non-combat troops haven’t been able to control any sort of government over there yet,” said senior sports management major Jake Citron. “If you’re going to leave troops over there, you leave the combat troops there and bring the non-combat troops home.”
Ultimately, was the original mission to restore Iraq’s government a success? The final judgment remains murky. “An end to war is always a good thing,” said Senior Government World Affairs major David Tulloch, “but achieving positive peace is going to be difficult.”
Are the troops at peace with it? When UT’s Lieutenant Joseph Gaeta was asked how he felt about the ending of the seven-year war in Iraq that has killed 4,400 U.S. troops, left 30,000 wounded, cost the U.S. $745 billion. He responded, “No comment.”