The last U.S. soldiers left Iraq ten days ago, as the nine-year, $800 billion-dollar war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives ended quietly. Days later, the country's fragile government threatened to collapse and bombs allegedly detonated by an al-Qaeda affiliated organization killed at least 65 people in Baghdad. Considering the elusiveness of "victory" in the war, the country's enduring turmoil, and the current war in Afghanistan, should there be a parade for the veterans of the Iraq War?
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Results tagged “missionaccomplished”
Should Veterans Of The War In Iraq Have A Parade?
Obama Announces Complete Drawdown Of Troops From Iraq
Mission Accomplished! Our work in Iraq is done, America: today President Obama officially announced that all American troops will be removed from Iraq by the end of the year (except for approximately 160 soldiers that are attached to the US Embassy). The nine-year-long war has cost the U.S. more than $800 billion dollars, left 3,525 American service members dead, and killed over 100,000 Iraqi civilians (an exact number remains elusive, because the Pentagon doesn't bother to count them). But it was all worth it to destroy Al Qaeda and tranform Iraq into a shining beacon of democracy for the rest of the Middle East!
"Mission Accomplished," Five Years Later
Five years ago today, President George W. Bush gave a televised address on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln to declare, "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September 11, 2001, and still goes on." The speech, which took place after Bush made a splashy entrance by arriving on the aircraft carrier in a fighter jet, announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq, but the whole spectacle ended up being a target for criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the war.
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