Operation Iraqi Freedom

In my opinion, the situation in Iraq is going well. Despite the constant barrage of negative news, magnified and dwelled on by the liberal media, the fact is that we’ve accomplished a lot in a short amount of time with a surprisingly low number of casualties. In a little over a year, we’ve toppled a dictatorial regime, captured the former leader and most of his henchmen, and installed a new government. All of this comes with less than 700 American combat losses (some 200 have died in non-combat, accident related incidents). Of course every loss is a tragedy, but we must maintain a sense of perspective when dealing with the enormity of the mission. For example, before the D-Day invasion of France during WWII, the US lost over 700 troops in a training exercise alone! Remember before the war, so-called experts were predicting tens of thousands of US losses and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths. Pessimists are bemoaning that this is another Vietnam-quagmire; “Bring the troops home!” “How long will our troops stay in Iraq?” The answer is, as long as it takes to get the job done. Would we be honoring the sacrifices of those who paid the greatest price buy cutting and running prematurely? US soldiers remained in Germany and Japan for years after the conclusion of WWII to assist with reconstruction. We’ve been in Iraq little over a year and already, some are getting shaky and calling for a withdrawal. What ever happened to our resolve and appreciation for history? The great potential of a free and democratic Muslim state in the Middle East threatens the very existence of terrorism. Terrorists thrive under corrupt governments that refuse to root them out of their society. They operate shrouded in secrecy and darkness. A free and open society, with leaders who are held accountable to the rule of law, naturally deters terrorism. It’s no wonder the terrorists in Iraq are engaged in an all-out battle to the finish to undermine and destroy the new Iraqi government. It seems like they realize what’s at stake more than the American left.


American Resolve 


The insurgency remains a problem, and a case can be made that planners underestimated their resolve going into the war and failed to come up with a definitive plan for reconstruction after major major combat operations had concluded. However, this does not mean that America has lost control of the situation. The media gives the impression that Iraq is on the verge of all out chaos. This conflicts with the reports of numerous soldiers who have returned from Iraq and have commented that the situation is not nearly as dire as reported by the American media. One soldier commented that he was more worried about the situation as a result of watching media coverage here than when he was actually fighting in Iraq! The fact is the attacks in Iraq are committed by a relatively small group of terrorists and insurgents. Recently, insurgents threatened to kill foreign terrorists who have been responsible for the murdering of innocent Iraqis. This indicates that Iraqis are uniting in their efforts to rid their land of terrorists. Iraqis understandably don’t want to be occupied by a foreign army, even less do they want to be plagued by car bombs, which result in hundreds of dead innocents. As much as they oppose US occupation, they realize that the real enemy is the terrorist, not the United States. The goal of the terrorists was to unite with the insurgency to force an American withdrawal and they have failed. As Iraqi security forces are taking an increasingly visibly presence in Iraq, the everyday Iraqi will unite behind their security forces and the terrorists will be on the run. We need to view operation Iraqi Freedom in perspective and realize how much we have accomplished in such a short time. We also need to remember that the best way, the only way, to honor the fallen is to get the job done.