Posted on Jan 6, 2014

Did the US really fail in Iraq?

SGT Ben Keen

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Last week I started a discussion on if leaving Iraq was in fact the right thing to do. Now, after a weekend of fighting in Iraq, news agencies are rushing off to the world using the fighting in the Anbar province as the evidence needed to say that America failed in it's overall mission in Iraq.

While I agree with the point that we as a nation have little to show for thousands of men and women lost their lives in the sand; I don't feel as though we "failed". We went into that country looking for WMDs and ended up removing the leader of a deadly regime from power while trying to make a new and better way of life for the people of that country. We left that country after providing them with some of the best training and equipment we could have. The new leaders of Iraq refused to renew the SOFA and we held to our word leaving that country to run and govern itself; for better or for worse.

Now here we sit watching from a distance as al-Qaeda led forces have taken control of two key cities including Fallujah which has gone done in the history books as some of the worse fighting faced by US Forces since Vietnam. And while no one is pointing at the military saying we failed, it still stings a little to read articles like the one below. Does it bother anyone else or is knowing that we did the best we could to "lead the horse to water" and their problems now are on their shoulders and a direct result of their decisions make it easier to read these stories?

The sad truth about America and Iraq

After one of the longest wars in American history we have little to show for the thousands of American deaths, tens of thousands of American casualties and trillions in spent American treasure in Iraq...

Posted in these groups: Multinational force iraq emblem mnf i 1 5

Iraq

Posted 11 y ago

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Responses: 7

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SFC Michael Hasbun

Posted 11 y ago

Ask any teacher how they feel when they find out years later that one of their students did something stupid, or is in jail, or doing drugs, etc...  You'll have successes and failures, but once they are out of your hands, what they do is up to them. All we can do is our best, and if the Iraqis failed to hold on their own after we left, then that's on them.  We gave them every advantage.

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SGT Jerokiah Darr

Posted 11 y ago

Fail? No.

We attempted to teach them something they didn't want to learn. It was unfamiliar and they were too used to their lifestyle to change.

People are creatures of habit. Disrupt their habits (introduce change) and they either like it or they don't. Either way, they are vulnerable from the transition.

"A house divided cannot stand." - Abe Lincoln

As stated in the report and Sgt Keen in a comment above, they have been warring for ages in the middle east.

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SFC James Baber

Edited 11 y ago

Posted 11 y ago

Ben I have mentioned this in another thread about Afghanistan, the fighting or sect differences have been going on in these countries for centuries, what we attempted to do for the people or country is not going to be fully changed or have true effect in a decade.

I think that we overstretched ourselves and should not have stayed as long as we did, as that was a sign that we were not making the difference that maybe was truly desired, but as a whole I don't think we failed in the mission as that would be saying all those lost lives were a waste to begin with, their sacrifices meant something in the big picture.

As you mentioned, we can give them the tools and knowledge/training, but if they are unwilling to fulfill their own needs to bring it to fruition we have no control over that.

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SGT Ben Keen

11 y

I fully agree with you. I didn't see our mission in both Afghanistan and Iraq as being a mission to stop people from fighting. That area of the world has been involved in war for decades; it's like they don't know any other way of living. As I said above, we tried our best to give them skills needed but just like a young kid, how many times can you say "Don't touch that" before someone is burnt?

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Did the US really fail in Iraq?

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