Iraq: Five Years and Counting

Five years ago, my mother was still alive. Five years ago, Lisa and I were still living in a small one-bedroom apartment in Chicago. Five years ago, the United States was still respected and feared in the world. We had friends and allies who mourned our loss after 9/11, sent their condolences, and shared our outrage. Five years ago, our economy was still sound.

Five years ago, we could hardly imagine the impact of the creation of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, domestic spying, suspension of Habeas Corpus and the sanctioned torture of terrorists in violation of international treaties and conventions on our own constitutional rights and freedoms. Five years ago, we had no idea our economy would be crashing, our dollar dropping, the price of oil and gas skyrocketing and that our national war debt would be approaching billions and trillions of dollars. Five years ago, nearly 4,000 young, American men and women were still alive and cherished by their friends and families. They had not yet learned of IED’s and the horrors of war.

It was five years ago that I sat in my brother’s living room watching his big screen TV. We were focused on the nighttime skyline of Baghdad in Iraq. Bush’s deadline for Saddam had passed and the whole world waited to see if our country would actually invade Iraq. It was history in the making. Our new president was talking tough. I wanted to believe that we had no other options than to go to war. I wanted to believe that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. Bush and Cheney had convinced us of the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. As a nation, we were scared and angry. We wanted to see someone pay for our national pain and humiliation. We wanted to show the world that we were still the most powerful nation on the face of the earth and that if anyone dare attack us...there would be consequences.

And there were.

FOOD for THOUGHT...