The Iraq War is Over…What Lies Ahead?
After more than 8 years, the Iraq War is finally over. Just last week, President Obama announced that the remaining 40,000 troops, which are non-combat troops, will all be returning home by this coming holiday season. All objectives that were laid out prior to the 2003 invasion, with the exception of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction…which was false, were met.
This war has cost the United States the lives of 4,400 troops with another 33,000 injured. As the United States prepares to leave, the US Embassy and two Consulates are just about complete and will be the only United States presence on the ground after all troops have left Iraq.
The reason for this is due to the fact that Iraq will not give US troop’s immunity from their democratic laws, and rightfully so. They are now a sovereign nation with a democratic government in place. Therefore, all must fall under Iraqi law if they are in Iraq. Isn’t democracy what we fought for over there? Or at least how the war was sold to the American people...
Many have asked if it was worth it, and I say it was not. Too much has been put into this effort with very little, if any, in return. To put it bluntly, this was the wrong war for all the wrong reasons. Prior to the Iraq War, the one thing that kept Iran in check was the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein and his Sunni Arab government. Now that Iraq has been severely weakened after 8 years of war, what is stopping Iraq from falling apart and major areas of it being devoured by Iran?
Over the last 8 years, Iran has become very outspoken against the United States and Israel. They have started new military programs to build up and enhance their capabilities. The biggest program that Iran has undertaken has been their nuclear program. Many in the West are against Iran becoming a nuclear power. Their fears reside in the belief that they will give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah, which have cells spread around the world. The same fear is what led the United States to conduct a preemptive military strike on Iraq. The only difference with Iran is that they are very public and open when stating they are seeking nuclear power...Iraq never said that and did disarm its WMD's as a result of the 1991 UN Resolution after the Persian Gulf War.
When looking ahead as a nation, we must ask what comes next for that region of the world. Will this be good for the United States or not? The question does not have an answer now, but will over time. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton strictly warned Iran to not intervene in Iraq or take advantage of the US troop withdrawal.
She stated "We may not be leaving military bases in Iraq, but we have bases elsewhere. We have support and training assets elsewhere. We have a NATO ally in Turkey.... I don't think anyone should be mistaken about America's commitment to the new democracy in Iraq that we have sacrificed so much to help them achieve."
When looking at US policies and military strategy during the Cold War, the United States would build buffer states and support those governments against Communist regimes and others around world that were not in line with American policies. We saw this policy in post-World War II Europe, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Afghan-Soviet War, and the Iran-Iraq War, as well as many other areas around the world. Even the Soviet Union created the Iron Curtain and devoured numerous Eastern European nations to act as a buffer between Germany and Russia on the fear that the West was rearming Germany to attack the Soviet Union.
Iraq just signed a $3 billion deal that would purchase 18 F-16 Fighter Jets from the United States “in a measure aimed at protecting its air space alone after years of relying on help from American pilots.” Although the F-16’s are not expected to arrive until next fall, “U.S. troops may still be asked to patrol the country's skies and train its air force for months, if not years, to come.” By selling fighter jets to Iraq, it seems as if the United States is taking a page out of its own history books and continuing Cold War policies by rearming Iraq to act as a buffer against Iran.
Time will tell as to how politics will play out in this region of the world. Although the United States is pulling all of its troops out, there are still three US Navy carrier groups with massive air strike capabilities that are sitting in the Persian Gulf, NATO and US bases in Turkey, and a combat-ready military in Israel. The world continues to be a chess board for the United States and it is positioning its pawns.
This war has cost the United States the lives of 4,400 troops with another 33,000 injured. As the United States prepares to leave, the US Embassy and two Consulates are just about complete and will be the only United States presence on the ground after all troops have left Iraq.
The reason for this is due to the fact that Iraq will not give US troop’s immunity from their democratic laws, and rightfully so. They are now a sovereign nation with a democratic government in place. Therefore, all must fall under Iraqi law if they are in Iraq. Isn’t democracy what we fought for over there? Or at least how the war was sold to the American people...
Many have asked if it was worth it, and I say it was not. Too much has been put into this effort with very little, if any, in return. To put it bluntly, this was the wrong war for all the wrong reasons. Prior to the Iraq War, the one thing that kept Iran in check was the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein and his Sunni Arab government. Now that Iraq has been severely weakened after 8 years of war, what is stopping Iraq from falling apart and major areas of it being devoured by Iran?
Over the last 8 years, Iran has become very outspoken against the United States and Israel. They have started new military programs to build up and enhance their capabilities. The biggest program that Iran has undertaken has been their nuclear program. Many in the West are against Iran becoming a nuclear power. Their fears reside in the belief that they will give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah, which have cells spread around the world. The same fear is what led the United States to conduct a preemptive military strike on Iraq. The only difference with Iran is that they are very public and open when stating they are seeking nuclear power...Iraq never said that and did disarm its WMD's as a result of the 1991 UN Resolution after the Persian Gulf War.
When looking ahead as a nation, we must ask what comes next for that region of the world. Will this be good for the United States or not? The question does not have an answer now, but will over time. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton strictly warned Iran to not intervene in Iraq or take advantage of the US troop withdrawal.
She stated "We may not be leaving military bases in Iraq, but we have bases elsewhere. We have support and training assets elsewhere. We have a NATO ally in Turkey.... I don't think anyone should be mistaken about America's commitment to the new democracy in Iraq that we have sacrificed so much to help them achieve."
When looking at US policies and military strategy during the Cold War, the United States would build buffer states and support those governments against Communist regimes and others around world that were not in line with American policies. We saw this policy in post-World War II Europe, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Afghan-Soviet War, and the Iran-Iraq War, as well as many other areas around the world. Even the Soviet Union created the Iron Curtain and devoured numerous Eastern European nations to act as a buffer between Germany and Russia on the fear that the West was rearming Germany to attack the Soviet Union.
Iraq just signed a $3 billion deal that would purchase 18 F-16 Fighter Jets from the United States “in a measure aimed at protecting its air space alone after years of relying on help from American pilots.” Although the F-16’s are not expected to arrive until next fall, “U.S. troops may still be asked to patrol the country's skies and train its air force for months, if not years, to come.” By selling fighter jets to Iraq, it seems as if the United States is taking a page out of its own history books and continuing Cold War policies by rearming Iraq to act as a buffer against Iran.
Time will tell as to how politics will play out in this region of the world. Although the United States is pulling all of its troops out, there are still three US Navy carrier groups with massive air strike capabilities that are sitting in the Persian Gulf, NATO and US bases in Turkey, and a combat-ready military in Israel. The world continues to be a chess board for the United States and it is positioning its pawns.
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