It was around this time five years ago that the United States began its invasion and subsequent seizure of Iraq, signaling the beginning of what remains a terribly unpopular, significantly horrible war. Five years ago, instead of watching the NCAA Tournament, I watched bombs drop in various forms of U.S. technological superiority. I remember it vividly, with a brother in the Marine Corps, watching nervously, upset and unbelievably tense.
Truth be told, I don't even want to write this article. This newspaper, and the media in general, seem to create a circus around this war as if there aren't people actually dying, as if we've become immune to the violence. But at the risk of seeming supercilious, I agreed to write this in an attempt to illustrate this war from a different, somewhat cynical perspective.
Lost in the anger and confusion around this war are the people. Protests at soldiers' funerals, seeing this war through a lens which somehow filters out the emotion, and at times the once lost purpose: to illustrate the carnage and the death, all giving viewers the impression that they even slightly understand what's going on out there.
And perhaps I must concede this is deservingly so. The purpose does indeed seem lost five years later. The phrase 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' is now out of style, and according to reports, it seems possible that it never actually was in style.
The legitimacy of the invasion is certainly in question, and whether or not those responsible for this war had proper reason or whether they were acting on their own intuition, for their own gain should certainly be addressed. Nevertheless, we, the proletariat, find ourselves fighting in this war whether we like it or not. There's been a lot of discourse on this subject that has served no other purpose other than to vilify all those involved.
We find ourselves frustrated because we don't want to be in Iraq anymore, but we must realize that we can't undo this and we can't take it back. We find ourselves frustrated because we want this terrible thing to end but realize that we're not even in the final chapter, and despite its realities we cannot help but focus on five years ago when it seemed like a better idea, even to skeptics.
But no one reading this has the qualification or knowledge to tell me they know how to end this. It would take an insane man to tell you that we can stop the bleeding by removing the blade. The question needs to shift from "Do we need to get out of Iraq?" to "How can we get out of Iraq?"
This is because we cannot leave. Don't be stupid. There is a civil war over there. Their new democratic government (you've got to love that) has less grip on security than the police did during the L.A. riots. Our occupation disturbs even the most insane of men, as troops on both sides, as well as civilians, continue to die in what is essentially a shit storm in need of a good flushing. But we know if we leave now, the deaths tolls on both sides won't matter in comparison to what will eventually happen. And keep in mind, should we leave, the violence and death that will occur will not follow the U.S. personnel. It will follow the people we have already affected over there.
I don't try and defend this as acceptable. We started this. Like you, I'm not stupid, but unlike you, I understand that because we started this, we are demanded a certain amount of responsibility. It doesn't justify the war in the first place, but it certainly justifies our occupation in Iraq. I'd like to assume at this point that our occupation is a response to the obvious civil and social disarrangement created by the collapse of a tyrannical, hurtful dictatorship.
While good intelligence could have predicted this collapse, in a way, it has its benefits; it's just unfortunate it had to cost our men and our country.
We expect our government to take care of our people and to then become a benevolent factor in the world. Perhaps Iraq wasn't the best cause because of what we knew would ensue. Perhaps it wasn't the right cause because of the unsophisticated warfare our men would be subjected to. Perhaps it wasn't the right cause because our desire to rid terrorism has created a bloody playground of such in the backyards of people who are just trying to be human and survive. But nevertheless, all this means nothing now.
We put ourselves in a bad situation. I want us out of there like you do, but we can't anymore, lest the Sunni and the Shi'a all kill each other. For all those angry at the fact that we're already there: Move on. We aren't wishing basketball was on CBS anymore, we are facing a completely different reality.
I'm not emotionless about this either. Having a family member in this war has changed my life. When my brother fought in Iraq, I found myself tuning out the news and finding new ways to become distracted. I couldn't stand the criticism from even the most uneducated of people that flooded the airways, print and streets.
For those angry at the soldiers, you are truly lost. Even the soldiers have a vote because in the end, they don't make decisions — they just do their job. If they had been sent to anywhere else for anything else, should they be crowned as heroes? Why then do we consider these warriors as unworthy for attempting to maintain peace? They are brave, and I can guarantee you that they do indeed fight for the betterment of the people of this world, which is more than I can say and probably more than you can.
These arguments are not intended to justify this war—they aren't because they can't. War is rarely justifiable as it is, and this war seems all the more difficult to do so. But we need to expand past five years ago because lack of initial reason to invade is not a good enough justification for an immediate withdrawal, even if that is what we desire. We are no longer fighting the Iraq War; we are fighting in an Iraq civil war. Our men and their men and completely unconnected men are dying. Let's cherish the peace keepers and try and find a way to guide ourselves out of this storm while maintaining our newly required pledge for democracy, but most importantly, for peace.
Josh can be reached by e-mail at: joshua.spivack@asu.edu.
