Contrary to the popular spin, the war in Iraq ended just about 4 years ago this month. We went in, fought Saddam's army, defeated them, killed his raping maniac sons, captured the Beast of Baghdad himself and neutralized Iraq's potential to make trouble in the region and around the world.
I have to agree with Dave on this.
All this time various groups have found it politically advantageous or convenient to keep calling what's going on in Iraq a war, and there's certainly plenty of fighting going on to make it look like one. But what's absolutely not going on there is a war between the United States and Iraq. Putting aside our conflict with al Qaeda, our main role in Iraq for the last four years has basically been babysitting - we've been keeping the peace. We've been doing the job the UN was made for, without their support and without the support of most of the nations which ought to be in there risking their soldiers to try to sort out the chaos so that Iraq can survive long enough to stand on its own.
I have had these same thought, but have not been able to express them as well.
Someone is going to have to have a hell of a lot of troops in Iraq for years to come. If we continue to allow the situation there to be presented as a war, it's likely to be us going it alone for much longer than we'd like. No one wants to join in and help out with an unpopular war. Only by affirming and publicly acknowledging the transition from war to peace mission which really took place almost 4 years ago are we going to be able to move forward and do what needs to be done there and do it with the support of the American people and the international community who should have been there with us from the start.
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