Military operations in Iraq have, finally, ended (officially,that is) and the "unpopular conflict" is,finally, over. For us. Well, maybe not really over, even for us. But officially, it's over. Anyway, it seems as though all of the chatter surrounding this historic event is centered on the ending. On the leaving. On the over. How relatively little of the discussion concerns its beginning. You know, why the fuk military operations in Iraq started. Still, no matter how unpopular the Iraqi War is currently, it was anything but unpopular on March 23, 2003. Indeed, the public support for invading Iraq was so strong leading up to the invasion, that if Bush hadn't invaded, he might well have been impeached.
It took years before the conflict in Iraq became unpopular. A little more than a year and half after commencement of hostilities, and a year-and-a-half after "Mission Accomplished", Bush was able to cobble together enough votes to get re-elected, even though it was obvious that only one of the stated mission objectives had been accomplished. And that one mission accomplished objective that was accomplished was merely the removal of Saddam Heussin from power. It would be another two years before the tide of public opinion would turn against this war. But by then, it was already way too late. The damage had been done.
Unfortunately, it was far more than pottery that suffered the damage of the unprovoked invasion of Iraq. Nations. Cultures. People. Each has been damaged in ways that will make repair difficult and recovery uncertain. This misadventure can easily turn out far worst than Vietnam, which initially ended badly but has all but completely recovered - at least insofar as relations between Vietnam and the U.S.A. As it is, as we leave it, Iraq is now a highly fragmented society where internecine violence is a common occurrence. But not my prob, mon. We be outti. We gave you your country, it's up to you to decide what to do with it. Umm, call me, ummm, if you ummmm need ummmm, me ummmmm...