This week marks the 13th anniversary of the disastrous U.S. invasion of Iraq, an occasion that has slipped past largely unnoticed, with nary a mention in the national conversation.
Given the scope of this calamity, this apathetic amnesia seems hard to believe. How could such a calamity, one that happened not so long ago, and is arguably still ongoing, have been so completely forgotten?
After trillions of dollars spent, thousands of American soldier’s casualties, hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths and a shattering of America’s reputation, what was the result of President George W. Bush’s crusade? Iraq now is a broken state in disarray; wracked by ultraviolent extremism and hellish ethno-religious strife; its “democratic” successor government is a corrupt, divided sham; and the supposedly imminent threat of Saddam’s weapons program was just another naked lie.
An unhinged death cult now controls half the country. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator — but at least Iraq was not a base of operations for the most virulent jihadist group in history, as is the case today. The recent tragedy in Belgium underscores this cruel, unintended consequence.
Or perhaps even more cynically, Americans are simply resigned to the fact that their government will involve itself in every quagmire in the Middle East no matter the cost.
So far, this narrative of the war’s anniversary has been withering and depressing — and given the subject matter, such is, frankly, warranted. The pre-emptive aggression against Iraq was a great blunder of the 21st century — and hopefully not to be surpassed. But Americans must do more if they want to avoid another Iraq.
The blunder of Iraq is not doomed to be an endless string of death and folly as Washington continues its involvement in the Middle East. This will only happen if we let it. There are countless avenues we can pursue to prevent endless wars from happening again.
Americans could hold politicians, like Hillary Clinton, accountable for their reckless actions, who not only pushed for the invasion of Iraq but continued to start new disastrous interventions in Libya and Syria. Washington’s disease of warmongering is, unfortunately, bipartisan.
American students could resume their historic role of protesting international injustice by our government and the harm endless war and unwise intervention cause our nation physically, financially and spiritually. The Vietnam War, perhaps even more of a disaster than that in Iraq, was ended by the staunch resistance of largely youth protestors.
