The US announces the end of the Iraq War

The Iraq War officially ended on Thursday as President Obama agreed to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by New Years Eve, leaving only a few in Kuwait should they be needed again. It ends an event that has, in many ways, defined a generation in much the same way that Vietnam defined our parents generation. Whether you were in a country that supported the US like the UK or Australia, or a nation that opposed it like Canada, France or New Zealand the issue divided public opinion, set world leaders apart and in the end, much like Vietnam, ended with a whimper.

I remember in 2003 being in Canada, where about 40% of people polled supported the war, including the then leader of the opposition and now Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Bush had sold the world a story of a man who was actively aiding Al Qaeda, building weapons designed to kill millions and that we were mere months away from armageddon. For a US population still in shock over the 9/11 attacks and looking for security the story sold well, with up to 70% of Americans suporting the initial invasion. While nowhere else in the world had even 50% support many leaders followed Bush in, most notably British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to what was sold as a quick war where the occupying forces would be greeted as liberators.

Personally I opposed the invasion as more western colonialism and accused Bush of using 9/11 to manufacture a war that had been the dream of many of the American extreme right for a decade. It fell out fairly close to that as US troops guarded Iraqi oil fields while the Baghdad museum, home to ancient treasures dating back to the dawn of humanity, was looted and priceless object taken or destroyed. To this day the Iraqi government accounts for a quarter of all US arms sales to foreign nations (and has since 2006). The Iraqi government that has been put in place is not ideal for US needs, but with the Islamic parties and the Baath party not allowed to run in elections, it's fairly close (notice that in Egypt or Palestine, where the people rose up on their own, Islamists have done very well in elections). I wonder if, a few years from now, an Islamist party will win a popular election in an Iraq free of US troops. It would be a bit like the iconic evacuation of the US embassy in Saigon in 1975 and is a real possibility.

Outside the US opinion solidified fairly quickly that the Iraq war was a giant manufactured lie. It was shown that the intelligence used to show that Saddam had weapons was horrendously out of date and had already been disproven and of course, there were no weapons there. European leaders who felt that they had been lied to quickly pulled troops out until only Blair and Bush were left towing the war barge. Iraq quickly fell in to a decade of civil war and perhaps the most memorable moment of the invasion was when Bush had a shoe throw at him by a journalist and the people of Iraq built a statue of that shoe. I think that shows how grateful the Iraqi's were for their "liberation". In the end, the war ended not with surrender on an aircraft carrier, nor with a drawn out peace process in Paris but with a failure between the Iraqi government and the US government to agree on terms to renew the US-Iraqi agreement to keep the troops there. A fitting end to one of the sadder moments of western colonialism.

It also created cultural icons who opposed the war and vaulted a new generation of media pundits in to the limelight. Jon Stewart was virtually unknown on his Daily Show until he became a focus for people who were sick of the shallow reporting on "our fallen heroes" etc. and found his comedy news better than the coverage offered by CNN. Also, people who didn't want to watch a republican and a democrat argue about the same 5 issues over and over again began to watch him. It also vaulted conservative Fox News in to the limelight, as those who felt patriotism = don't question your government allowed the likes of Glenn Beck to predict doom and gloom and use his showmanship to launch his brand of baseless fearmongering in to the national spotlight and make himself a millionnaire in the process. Not that Stewart is financially hurting, but he got it by pointing out the absurdity of this whole debacle, not by telling you that democrat healthcare will lead to Nazi style euthanasia as Beck has done.

As to what we allegedly learned from this. A new generation, who had apparently forgotten the lessons of Vietnam or a new generation of Britons who had forgotten the lessons of, well the last 300 years of their history, supposedly learned to be skeptical of their leaders. To hold those in power accountable for their misdeeds. That you can't force political change with a gun and that intervention in a country's internal politics, no matter how well intentioned, leaves people resentful of you for doing so (as opposed to country A attacks country B so we all go to help country B). However Fox News remains the most popular news broadcast in America and CNN and even the BBC are still running the "fallen heroes" editorials instead of discussing what the hell just happened? My fear is that as a people we learned very little from this disaster that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars and helped push the western economy in to the worst recession since the depression. The real tragedy are the thousands of dead Iraqi's and the huge numbers of orphans that will grow up blaming the west for their childhoods. Also for the troops who really died and suffered for nothing. The final tragedy is that the makers of all this violence get to live free and wealthy (how big is that Bush ranch again?) while those they hurt will spend a lifetime rebuilding what was taken from them.

Hopefully Iraq folows the path of Vietnam and emerges from a decade of violence strong and independent. Maybe one day we will even be able to visit Baghdad and see the ancient city much in the same way we can now see Hanoi (who'd have imagined that in 1975, or heck 1985?). I also hope that as a species we might have learned something from this and think twice before giving in to baseless fear of the different or unknown............ and as an added bonus if we do make that evolutionary leap we can all see Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs at the unemployment office :)