Sunday morning after 9 years, $800 billion, and 4,474 American lives the last US troops drove out of Iraq and the war came to an end. There is a video that was taken by a drone flying over the last convoy as it drives into Kuwait at dawn. If you watch till the end the camera zooms in as the Kuwaiti border guards close the gate behind the convoy and close a tragic chapter in our history (l). Very few people know who David Emanuel Hickman was, probably fewer still will remember him for long, but he has his place in history. He was the last to die in the senseless war.
When asked if we had won the war President Obama answered, "I would describe our troops as having succeeded in the mission of giving to the Iraqis their country in a way that gives them a chance for a successful future."
I'll let you decide what that means but before you get too celebratory let we remind you, as Mother Jones tweets each day, we are still at war. With that reminder comes a sad update. Back in July I wrote about a photo of an unknown woman who was one of the first female commandos in the US military and a member of a team of women deployed to Afghanistan (l). I'm not going to repeat what I said than but I was simply proud because, even though I might not agree with what she was doing, there she was proving that a woman can do any so called man's job and do it just as well.
On October 22nd Army 1st Lieutenant Ashley White was killed along with two other soldiers in southern Afghanistan by a roadside bomb while serving with this Cultural Support Team. She was 24 years old and is survived by a husband, both parents, a bother, and a twin sister. Lieutenant White was the first member of this special team to be killed.
I don't know if the photo I wrote about is of her, I like to think that it's not, but yes we are still at war and too many people seem to forget that fact.
I remember the day we first set war upon Iraq to drive them out of Kuwait. I was in my last year of art school finishing up some projects for my soon to come senior show. There were eight or nine of us in the studio crammed around a portable TV as the bombs started to drop live on TV. I remember the GOP and Bush Sr. both saying this was going to be swift action and the US would not stay. Years later Bush Jr finished up what his father had started, All out war in a region the US political and military machine is largely responsible for fucking up in the first place. Wars in in two countries no less.
ReplyDeleteI remember them saying this would be short and swift and that it would only cost a few billion dollars tops and minimal American lives.
I remember their lies to justify so much death and destruction that not only destroyed two countries but has helped plunge this country into another depression, filled with hate and suspicion.
I dare say we are worse off than we were nearly 22 years ago. But I am happy our men and women are coming home.