1, 2, 3, What are we Fightin' For?

by Kayalyn Kibbe

From March 20th to May 1st of 2003, the United States, back by British forces, invaded Iraq; the war that ensued and continues today is one of the defining events of our generation. According to former President Bush, the reasons for invading Iraq were “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people. But 5 years and a new administration later, what will happen next in Iraq?

Before the Iraq invasion, the American people were assured that we would be greeted as liberators in the sovereign nation, and that the war would cost at somewhere between 50 and 100 billion dollars. Both of these estimations turned out to be far from the truth. With 4,244 US troop fatalities and a cost of nearly $1.3 trillion from 2003 to 2008, the war in Iraq has forced Americans to think long and hard about what it is exactly we’re fighting for.

Then, on November 4th, 2008, Barack Obama was elected President and a new hope for Iraq was born. Obama promised a responsible and gradual withdrawal from Iraq, bringing our troops home for some very much deserved rest. However, the election of Barack Obama does not mean the end of our military involvement in Iraq and the Middle East. There is still a lot of work to be done in Iraq - officials and police to be trained, prisoners to be moved, and a new political system to be secured. Obama’s plan for the future of Iraq features a longer timetable, tactical adjustments, and the presence of 50,000 American for a few years. By the fall of 2010, Obama says there will be a shift of the primary mission of U.S. troops from “population security” and combat to a more focused set of training, equipping, and counterterrorism tasks. Obama has also been talking about removing all U.S. troops by 2011.

While the Obama timetable for Iraq promises the end of what has been a long and draining war, what does the future hold for our other military engagements in Afghanistan? Obama has said that he will be sending an additional 17,000 troops to join the existing force of 36,000 troops in Afghanistan this spring and summer. The troops will be focused on “stabilizing a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received strategic attention, direction, and resources it urgently requires,” Obama said while announcing his plan on February 17th. Obama also recognized that the problems in Afghanistan cannot be solved by troops alone, and has stressed his commitment to further diplomacy.

After 7 years in Afghanistan, the US has not broken al-Qaida or the Taliban, has not found Osama bin Laden, and has not fixed the corruption of the Afghan government. Obama’s plan for Afghanistan still lacks a clear mission, and is leaving many critics asking, "What are we fighting for?"

In the coming months and years, we will be hearing less and less about Iraq and more and more about Afghanistan (and possibly Pakistan). There will be a shift of focus in not only the media, but also in the addresses both Obama and his press secretary make. The war in Iraq is not over by a long shot, but the prospect of the end being in sight is a comforting one. The US involvement in the Middle East is going to define our generation just as Vietnam defined our parents’, and we need to get used to the idea that the wars going on now may unfortunately be out children’s wars as well. As for President Obama’s plan: as they have been presented so far, they appear to be well thought out and focused, but only time will tell if his plans can fix what we have started in Iraq. As citizens, it is important for us to continue asking what we are fighting for, and is it worth it?