Rick Raw: Iraq War Five Years After–Lessons of History are Profound

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net http://www.rickatnight.com/

As we contemplate the five year anniversary of the Iraq War, we need to consult the lessons of history for the answer to the pertinent question: What do we do now?

In 1976, when America pulled out of Vietnam, the North Vietnamese Communists supported by China moved in, causing a blood bath. Thousands of Vietnam citizens were thrown into concentration camps for "reeducation."

The en mass voices of the Vietnam War’s protesters demanded drastic action. We cut and run, leaving 58,000 American soldiers dead, millions of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians dead. Worst of all, we never achieved our goal of stabilizing the region and driving the communists out of South Vietnam. We accepted defeat, President Johnson retired and refused to run again. Ultimately, historians were left to write the epilogue.

Cut to August 2, 1990. Saddam Hussain, who was suffering from delusions of grandeur, thought he could annex Kuwait for its rich oil fields and no one would notice. As soon as Saddam crossed Kuwait’s border, red flags popped up and warning buzzers went off on all of CentCom’s computers. The outcry from the Emir of Kuwait was deafening. A coalition of nations was hastily assembled in the United Nations Security Council. A signed declaration of war was finally drafted with a deadline, when Saddam refused to listen to reason.

The vast hallways of the Pentagon were reverberating with the sound of American generals yelling "hu-rah." Finally, these grizzled veterans, who had been humiliated by Vietnam, had a chance to redeem the mistakes made during that 13 year debacle. We would unleash the full power of American military might and crush Saddam like a bug.

More importantly, Operation Desert Storm would give the military a chance to use its high tech arsenal in a real scenario, testing smart bombs and advanced cruise missiles on real targets. Generals in the field would run the war, not the White House, like during Johnson’s administration. A hellfire of hurt was descending on Saddam’s head the likes of which the world had never seen.

This unprecedented military operation was over by February 28 1991, with Saddam retreating with most of his army destroyed. Everyone felt good about the swift end to this thunderous display of America’s high tech military capability. It proved that with enough firepower we could end conflicts rapidly and with a minimum casualties.

Then W. Bush was "elected," stealing the election for Al Core. He assembled his coalition of creepy pyro men led by Cheney, with vested interests in the Mideast oil. Incredibly, 9/11 played into Bush’s secret plans, since he and Cheney were plotting to oust Saddam from Iraq before Saudi terrorists flew jumbo jets into the twin towers and the Pentagon killing 3,000 people. Of course, striking back at Afghanistan was a given, using the same concept as the Gulf War, but with a small force of special forces acquiring targets and providing on-ground reconnaissance. The nation’s outrage was Bush’s trump card. But he needed to somehow connect Iraq with the a worldwide threat. After all, the war fervor was driving the American public to new levels of patriotism and revenge.

With the drums of war beating loudly, all he needed was an excuse to invade Iraq. Bush and his cronies came up with the Biggest Lie in history–Saddam was sitting on weapons of mass destruction. And, after Colin Powell showed the graphics of Saddam’s mobile poison gas labs and Rice’s "mushroom cloud" remark, Bush had his war.

Now, five years after the Big Lie, 4,000 American soldiers lay dead, with 29,000 wounded, and the Iraq War drags on. Bush’s Iraq War folly played into bin Laden’s master plan to get American forces into the Mideast theater of war, where al Qaeda could send an infinite number of jihadists to enter paradise trying to kill infidels.

The question is: Now, what do we do? Pull out like in Vietnam? Plan a phased withdrawl, turning more of the American responsibility over to the Iraqi army? Or, do we stand and continue fighting until al Qaeda is defeated and Iraq is once again a sovereign nation? The lessons of Vietnam tell us that pulling out in-force would leave a terrible mess, with endless bloodshed.

Regardless of how we got there, we need to find a equitable solution that honors the sacrifices of our dead soldiers. Yes, Bush has blood on his hands, and we never should have invaded Iraq. But now, we’re way past that fact. I say, plan a phased withdrawl in stages, testing Iraq’s resolve to take the reins of America’s involvement. Keep a permanent presence in the region, and if al Qaeda gains back any ground, crush them with massive firepower and troops. The truth is: Bin Laden and al Qaeda are never going away. And every day, new radical Muslin jihadists are recruited. And, make no mistake, they want to kill us all and take over the world.