From inside Camp Echo, outside the gate, we start our missions by entering into the Iraqi Army compound that operates adjacent to our FOB. From that inner circle we pass through flattened fields of shelled out barracks and buildings, abandoned and left to waste after US forces passed through in March 2003, "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
I try to imagine what it was like to be among the first soldiers to invade this country 6 years ago when we (the American people) were still seeking justice for the 9-11 attacks. This emotion which politically mutated into the fruitless search for Saddam Hussein's infamous WMDs.
A few months ago I mentioned WMDs as a joke to a young soldier after finding a hollow spot in a loose floor tile. Indeed there are hundreds of military abbreviations that one can become familiar with but WMD was one that this soldier had never heard of. Impossible right? In 2003 he was probably in middle school and concerned with the threat of impending puberty rather than terrorism (as it should be), but I was really surprised. I spent the rest of the day popping the question on soldiers including NCOs. 1 in 3 knew the correct answer.
Where does the world stand now years later? In a safer place? Are we living on a planet that is destined to get more dangerous? In any case, here we are, moving on. President Obama has announced plans to have all military out of Iraq by August 2010. Our national focus has shifted and re-adjusted. There's always a bigger picture of global reality, but it always seems out of view and boxed in a rear-view mirror.
Iraq is now operational and back on its feet. Now a stabilized government and day to day life takes place as it does in other parts of the world. Are Iraqi people better off than under Saddam Hussein? I should say so, but I'm really not one who could say. They will most often say yes when asked, and I have. American politicians who opine on this subject either way can only get lost in the hot air that came before them. It would seem Iraqi citizens have been brought back to a neutral point, a zero/zero on the grid from which things could go in any direction. What happens next is up to them and beyond our intervention. Hopefully the natural tendency for governments to become corrupt will abate and not hinder the lives of those who wish to sustain peace. Being here, in Iraq, I would say it's time for us to leave. What we should do next within the world is something I know less of.
With a taste of the Saddam-free freedom we helped bring, and the Bush-free democracy which has been available since things have settled down, hopefully the zeitgeist of this country can keep its strength, quell terrorism within its borders, and take advantage of its own natural resources making a better life for those who live here.
I try to imagine what it was like to be among the first soldiers to invade this country 6 years ago when we (the American people) were still seeking justice for the 9-11 attacks. This emotion which politically mutated into the fruitless search for Saddam Hussein's infamous WMDs.
A few months ago I mentioned WMDs as a joke to a young soldier after finding a hollow spot in a loose floor tile. Indeed there are hundreds of military abbreviations that one can become familiar with but WMD was one that this soldier had never heard of. Impossible right? In 2003 he was probably in middle school and concerned with the threat of impending puberty rather than terrorism (as it should be), but I was really surprised. I spent the rest of the day popping the question on soldiers including NCOs. 1 in 3 knew the correct answer.
Where does the world stand now years later? In a safer place? Are we living on a planet that is destined to get more dangerous? In any case, here we are, moving on. President Obama has announced plans to have all military out of Iraq by August 2010. Our national focus has shifted and re-adjusted. There's always a bigger picture of global reality, but it always seems out of view and boxed in a rear-view mirror.
Iraq is now operational and back on its feet. Now a stabilized government and day to day life takes place as it does in other parts of the world. Are Iraqi people better off than under Saddam Hussein? I should say so, but I'm really not one who could say. They will most often say yes when asked, and I have. American politicians who opine on this subject either way can only get lost in the hot air that came before them. It would seem Iraqi citizens have been brought back to a neutral point, a zero/zero on the grid from which things could go in any direction. What happens next is up to them and beyond our intervention. Hopefully the natural tendency for governments to become corrupt will abate and not hinder the lives of those who wish to sustain peace. Being here, in Iraq, I would say it's time for us to leave. What we should do next within the world is something I know less of.
With a taste of the Saddam-free freedom we helped bring, and the Bush-free democracy which has been available since things have settled down, hopefully the zeitgeist of this country can keep its strength, quell terrorism within its borders, and take advantage of its own natural resources making a better life for those who live here. 
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