Milblog Reflection

We were a wounded country after 9/11, screaming for the blood of Osama Bin Laden, and because nothing so horrific had happened on American soil in living memory, we were shocked and scared. This, in combination with many other factors, led to the unjust invasion of Iraq. I believe that we invaded on false pretenses, and that America made a grave mistake. This was my opinion before class started and before I had ever read a milblog.

After reading the milblogs in class, my opinion about whether or not the war has been just has not changed. It has if anything, strengthened that belief, because of the many accounts of the hardships suffered by our troops that could have been avoided had we not invaded. What has changed is my opinion on the troop withdraw. Before class began, I was in favor of a total troop withdraw effective immediately, but I’ve found that after reading this blog and reading the news, I am now against it. I am definitely against a troop increase, but to leave Iraq in its current state to the Iraqis would be irresponsible on our part. Too many of our troops have died overseas, but the number of Iraqi citizens who have died as a result of this war is inconceivable and even higher. Their innocent blood is on our hands, and when we invaded we unwittingly took all of their problems as our own, for better or for worse. We owe it to the un-stabilized Iraq we created to see this through to the end, whatever that may be.