COMMENTARY | Every one remembers that fateful day, September 11, 2001, or 9/11. I remember sitting in my first hour high school class when a teacher barged in and said that we had been attacked. I also remember finding out that my cousin was in the second tower when it was hit, and that he survived. I remember the anger and hate that filled my whole body, and the thought of revenge crossing my mind. I believed that someone should pay for what had been done, but not at the stake of others’ lives. So that brings me to a question. Was the Iraq War really worth it and what did we actually accomplish versus what we lost?
The Iraq War claimed the lives of 4,500 Americans and left 32,000 wounded. So for the answer to the first part of my question I think that we should consult the families of the fallen soldiers and see if they’re family member’s life was worth loosing. We should ask the wounded soldiers if the war was worth not ever being able to walk again. I live in a town that’s so small that if you blink you’ll miss it, and my small town has had at least five funerals due to the war. One deceased soldier came back in pieces.
The war’s agenda was to rid Iraq of so-called weapons of mass destruction, strengthen their government, and to bring down Saddam. Well, no weapons were ever found, we tried to strength a country that attacked us, and Saddam was taken down by us around a year after the war started. So, was the war worth it? I don’t think so! We are now trillions of dollars in debt, and in a recession. Some say that the recession is over, however, the local business that just shut down in my town that has in business for years, thinks differently.
According to the Washington Post, earlier this week, President Obama spoke at a news conference and openly admitted that the Iraq’s government is still not stable after all these years. He also goes on to say that we are still going to fund military training programs, and sell them 18 F-16 jets. So, after everything is supposedly said and done, we are still going to lose money to Iraq, strengthen their soldiers, and then sell them jets that they could eventually turn around and use on us.
With the way that the government is running our country, I am afraid for our future. I fear that we will spend so much time trying to save others that we will not have the means to save ourselves.