On Aug. 31, 2010, Operation Iraqi Freedom came to end. What began as the thunderous “shock-and-awe” campaign that launched the Iraqi War came to a quiet and emotionally subdued end.
I remember watching on TV as tanks rolled out of Bagdad. Some of the troops were waving to the cameras while others stared off into the distance.
This upcoming August, if everything goes according to plan, we will mark the end of the war in Afghanistan.
On that day, American history will once again be made as a war that has raged for almost a decade and will no doubt come to a quiet ending, just like its counterpart, the Iraqi War.
We must ask ourselves, has fighting these wars been worth it?
It is not unpatriotic to ask this question. Our military men and women personify the very best of not only America but humanity.
Scripture tells us no greater love can a person have then a love that motivates someone to lay down their life for another.
When a country sends its military into conflict, they are potentially sacrificing their very best people. These decisions — decisions to go to war — are of paramount importance.
They should be made with rational minds and compassionate hearts.
Our servicemen and women should be given clear commands and objectives, and, when the mission is over, the war is over.
This is the proper way to show respect and admiration for our military, to use them only when it is absolutely necessary and only until a clear objective has been accomplished.
Can this be said of America’s recent 10-year conflicts? I don’t have all the answers. Like many citizens, I have more questions than answers.
What I do know is our enemy is al-Qaida, an international group of terrorists who wish to see the destruction of the Westernized world. They do not live in a specific country. They know no national flag.
The death tolls for these conflicts have been catastrophic. Some reports suggest death tolls of Iraqi citizens to be more than a million.
For the longest time, no clear objectives were even given as troop deployments were unfairly extended.
And then there is the financial cost. The Congressional Research Service, a group that prepares reports for members of Congress, determined the War in Afghanistan alone has cost the U.S. taxpayers more than $150 billion.
Can it be said with statistics like the ones previously mentioned that the American government was careful and cautious in deploying our troops?
Let’s hope, in the future, our government will show as much admiration for our soldiers as “we the people” do.
By DAVID
WOODSON
Newscast Editor
dwoodson@imail.iu.edu
