Soldiers Search for Meaning in Iraq

This week marks five years since the beginning of the war in Iraq, making it one of the longest foreign military engagements in U.S. history. The soldier's who won the first war five years ago thought the defeat of Saddam Hussein would surely end the war. Five years later some of them are still in Iraq fighting a war they had thought they had won already. Sergeant Brett Waterhouse said, "It was like the war was over." Waterhouse said it was the "calm" after the invasion that sticked in his mind, and the rapport with friendly Iraqis. "It was just like going to see family, except we had tanks," Waterhouse recalled of his visits to Baghdad homes days after American forces secured the Iraqi capital in early April 2003. Although, he didn't think they would be back in Baghdad, again.

Sergeant Brett Waterhouse is only one of the many thousands who feel this way. Are soldiers fighting a war in Iraq they already won? Yes. Their goal going into Baghdad was too take down Saddam Hussein and they did. In doing that, they accomplished their mission and but it didn't restore order. The U.S. got themselves into a war they could never win just like Vietnam. They have all the fire power to win the war but their goal is to make their home what we have, a democracy. So killing everyone would not accomplish anything. Do I think the soldiers should be pulled out of Iraq? I want to say yes but I can't. If we pull out some other tyrant will come to power and try to destroy everything we tried so hard to restore, freedom.

Link to Article: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/news/IRAQ_5YEARS16_AUS.html