For the last 12 years America’s military had been fighting terrorism and other forces around the globe, namely in Iraq and Afghanistan. I write today to discuss the recent events where Al-Qaeda has taken control of the city of Fallujah. Now, any readers may wonder why I bring this up in a policy blog regarding veterans issue. Well, the reason is that many veterans fought hard and bravely to take that city from the grasp of the enemy. The reaction in the veteran community that the city has been lost is devastating to some. (See link here.) I personally know several people who fought there, house-to-house, street-to-street with many loosing their lives.
What makes this important is the decisions that are made both on and off the battlefield affect the lives of veterans long after they have finished serving. From a policy standpoint we can argue all day about what the US should and should not be doing. However, from a military standpoint you don’t pack your bags until the job is done and I can assure it wasn’t. I was there; I have worked fairly closely with the Iraqi Army and Security Forces and it did not appear to me they were ready to take over without our help. As I write this I would be willing to bet there is a Marine somewhere in a bar telling his friends that if he could he would sign up and take the city back. These feelings stemmed from the notion that veterans do not want to feel as if their sacrifices were made in vain. Many combat veterans already suffer with problems assessing there worth and their value to society, which is a factor in PTSD. However, for many the ability to hang your hat on the battles you won in combat is something, at least for me, is always a point of pride.
It would be foolish for me to sit here and say I think we should go back, or that we should have stayed there forever. The truth of the matter is I am not really sure what the answer is or why certain decisions are made. What I will say is that policy decisions, especially those that concern combat operations should not be made for internal political reasons. It can affect the whole purpose of fighting in the first place (whatever the reason may be). As I write this Charles Krauthammer is being interviewed on the O’rielly Factor on Fox News. (Generally, interviews are available the day after they air on foxnews.com) Personal feelings people have about Fox News aside the interview was pretty good and suggest the removal of troops from Iraq was entirely motivated by politics, regardless of the consequences. This topic is worth giving some thought, considering what is going on over there today.
The longer I write about this the harder it becomes to keep my personal feelings out of it, so I will attempt to leave you with a few thoughts. The first is that regardless of how one might feel about the various wars being fought or the troops, it is important to realize that veterans had a job to do and they did it; this should not be considered senseless or without merit. Second, is it right for military leaders or those in charge of our armed forces to make decisions based on their political beliefs or ideals? It sounds foolish to think that decisions could be made in another way other than political, but sometimes it just might be necessary. Finally, maybe all the media and anger from the veteran community about the loss of Fallujah to terrorist is pointless. That is to say, maybe the Iraqi’s will step up to the plate and show the world that they are in fact ready to deal with these issues without the help of the Americans.