Why are we fighting?

The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.-Hiram Johnson

We can support or oppose specific reasons for the U.S involvement in the war in Iraq despite validity or fallacies within these reasons but the fact is, we’re there NOW. Soldiers, civilians, innocents are dying NOW. Perhaps we entered on trivial or selfish reasons but we are there. And pulling out of what the current administration has made our responsibility would have devastating effects. Despite recent strides, Iraq is still to versatile and fragile and leaving would undoubtedly leave the Iraqi people in a worse state than when U.S soldiers arrived.

To quote Washington Post writer Joshua White, “Even if top commanders meet their goal of transferring authority to the Iraqi army within the next 18 months, a U.S. presence long after that is likely, several officers said. "This is a worthwhile endeavor," said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multinational Division North and the 25th Infantry Division. "Nothing that is worthwhile is usually easy, and we need to give this more time for it to all come together. We all want to come home, but we have a significant investment here, and we need to give the Iraqi army and the Iraqi people a chance to succeed." (end quote)

As a young citizen, I cannot express a single reason for our fight. It is said that we are fighting a war on terror. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were undoubtedly devastating and shocking. And I believe it to be fair for a country to defend and retaliate against the forces behind this tragedy. Yet since 2001, the vision of success has become so blurred that even some soldiers are ignorant (I do not use this word pejoratively). From personal experience, I know that some soldiers don’t know where they are going or why. They aren’t sure what supplies they’re bringing to a certain place or why it’s necessary to bomb a location. Some admit that they are fighting for America and to help those less fortunate, but the exact reason is still not able to be pinpointed. Are more deaths really necessary? The media sugarcoats the public mind with images of thankful Iraqis and soldiers that receive packages and videos from their families. Perhaps we have “learned” from the gruesome publicity of Vietnam and that is why we don’t know what’s going on. One cannot support or oppose such a cause until he or she witnesses the effects of the efforts. Not to say that fighting the battle on home soil would be “better”, but I do believe that as a whole America is still as blind to the real issues as it was before 9/11. Our government still refuses to take responsibility for sticking its nose where it didn’t belong. Our own soil has suffering that should be fixed before we can imagine a harmonic country, never mind planet. Nonetheless, we are now a part of this war and we are fighting for the interests of ourselves and the Iraqi people. We cannot pull out now and risk greater disaster.

The issue is not how we will achieve a democratic or free Iraq or a powerful and safe America. The issue is whether or not the United States as a whole will ever be able to accept that despite our initial mistakes in entering prematurely, making assumptions, and concealing parts of the truth and move on with the current situation in an honest, safe, and equally beneficial way. This may sound presumptuous, but words and knowledge could solve this problem better than bombs and media-based embellishment and secrecy ever could.