President Obama traveled to Fort Bragg, North Carolina on Wednesday -- home of the Airborne and Special Operations Forces -- to salute the service of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines who fought in Iraq and helped to bring the war to an end.
"As your commander in chief, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words," he said, "Welcome home."
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It was President George W. Bush's executive agreement to have U.S. troops leave Iraq by the end of this year, a promise kept by the Obama administration, whose address was more somber and sober, and welcoming to the troops and the reflection of over 6,200 US lives (over 150,000 Iraqis) lost in the warm, than Commander in Chief Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003.
6 comments:
I remember when Bush said the mission in Iraq was over, except we would would spend about 8 more years trying to give Iraqis a stable country and government. The major media outlets did not focus much on our troops departure due to the uncertain future of the culture and government in Iraq as well the 4,000 troops that have died in Iraq since 2003. Especially since troops left around Christmas time the media used a gatekeeper role to limit coverage of the end of Iraqi operations. Many view the Iraq war end as bittersweet because many have lost loved ones and don't have to be reminded by the media of the war's end
I think Bush's comments show how important rhetoric can be during war time. I think his declaration was necessary if he hoped to stay in Iraq for a few more years. It healed a lot of bruised egos and restored the nation's confidence when he said that we were succeeding in our mission. Public support for the war did ultimately falter rather severely, but even if Bush's remark might have been a facade it still gave the public enough security in the mission that the war could continue in Iraq.
I liked that both of the presidents thanked the servicemen and servicewomen by acknowledging their sacrifices and giving them credit for the changes brought about. It was also nice to see those serving applauding our presidents; I think the U.S. military is always a prime example of honor and patriotism, even if I don't always agree with the battles they fight. It's sad that after so many sacrifices that they make, so many veterans are unemployed, barely making ends meet, or even homeless. I think we could take some of the money currently spent on the military and its development and use it to give veterans greater benefits and security.
I still think the picture with Bush in front of the
big banner is one of the most classic presidential pictures.
Anyways, it is definitely nice to gear that our troops are finally able to leave that place. it's the first war in my lifetime to end, but aren't we usually supposed to go out with a bang. Something like "Hitler dead: Fascism defeated" as opposed to "Well, we are leaving now." unfortunately, it seems that we will be ending up back in tar region sometime again in the near future... Well, at least Obama can tag it as another foreign victory.
Maybe I'm just a skeptic, but it really isn't like there's been a separate group of Americans fighting each of our wars. Even troops home from Iraq now are looking at the indefinite and long-term future ahead in Pakistan expecting further deployments, whatnot. For example, I was watching Rachel Maddow a while back, and she was talking about a group of soldiers (I don't remember what they were called) that were coming home from Iraq in time for Christmas, only to be shipped out to Afghanistan by early summer. The two wars started by the Bush administration have been unrelated wars, fought for different reasons and in different places. But it has been the same tiny proportion of Americans who have fought both of them. And I feel like it always will be.
I don't remember who said it, but someone said that the US hasn't been fully been able to leave Afghanistan because they want to keep an eye on Pakistan. I have some personal insight into Pakistan, and I know that current government could easily be susceptible to Al-Queda activities. But with Obama's current millitary cuts, I hope that the US will have to have less of a presence in this global hot zone and maybe these countries can be able to manage their countries by themselves.
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