Symbolism

I don't like getting political on this site.  I don't like getting political at all these days, but I am a little pissed off today.

I just read this.

The war in Iraq is "over."  Whatever that means.  The war that was fought because Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda that didn't exist (funny how that turned out) and because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist (note the pattern) officially ended today with a little ceremony that included boxing up the flag and shipping it home.

I'm conflicted about this, as I am with most things these days.  First I want to say, FINALLY!  We spent almost nine years in a war that was fought because our government lied to us, and when the lie was exposed they re-justified the war with another lie, and when that lie was exposed they just ignored us and kept the war machine rolling.

According to the article linked above:
4,500 Americans dead.
32,000 Americans wounded.
That pales in comparison to the estimated 100,000 dead Iraqis.
The cost of the war?  $800 Billion.  That's Billion with a "B".

On the other hand... well, there are two other hands.  First, it's bullshit.  Yes, the overwhelming majority of US troops will be home by the end of the year.  I applaud that.  I am very thankful for that.  It's a Christmas gift that makes me happy.  Unfortunately we are still leaving armed forces in the country.  The "war" is over, but we're not pulling out entirely.  They are just giving the "war" a new name.  I don't know what the new name is, but it's not "war" so the war is over yippee!  Right?  Bullshit.

The other, other hand is that we've left a colossal mess there.  We never should have gone there in the first place, but now we've got an entire nation of people who have had their lives turned upside down in the name of Democracy thanks to the United States.  People need to come to Democracy naturally.  The United States didn't have it forced onto us, we grew into it.  Egypt?  Libya?  They came to it naturally.  I had no problem with NATO forces helping out in Libya.  The Libyan people chose to stand up to their government and if they needed our help then we had a duty to our way of life to help them.  Did the Iraqi people ask us for help or did we shove it down their throats?  Think about your every day life.  How does it make you feel when unwanted "help" is forced onto you.  Now blow that up to a nation of millions of people and try to imagine the scale of the mess we made.

And now we're just leaving.  Buh-Bye, have a nice life.  Yeah Democracy.  How long before Iraq turns into another Iran.  I am betting it's not long at all.

I'm glad we're finally leaving, even though we've left such a mess.  I would have been happier, much happier, if we just hadn't gone at all.  Unfortunately I got sucked in by the lies just like everyone else.  I wasn't happy about it, but we had to do what we had to do... except we didn't because it was all a lie. 

Welcome the troops home.  Welcome your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends, and neighbors back home where they belong.  Thank them for their service, but never forget that their service was the result of your government lying to you.  Never forget that.