An early reminder so you can buy me a present
Or: I’m getting kind of old. Can we figure out this Iraq business already?
March 19, 2003.
I’m sure you don’t remember that day the way I do. Certainly, we all have individual memories of “where we were when” something big happened.
Like 9/11.
All day on March 19, 2003, I kept thinking:
“Not today. Not today. Any day but today.”
It was the day the United States invaded Iraq. At 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, the first airstrikes occurred. You probably remember watching it on TV, almost like it was a movie. Or a video game.
And all I could think was, “If they had just waited 3 more hours.”
See at that point, despite my personal objection to the expansion of the “War Against Terror” to include Iraq, I knew it was inevitable. We all did. The Bush Administration practically announced to the world we were coming (I hear that’s not a great strategy for war, but anyway).
I had a personal grudge about the invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003.
March 19 is my birthday.
If they had only just waited three… more… hours…
For the first ten years of our presence in Iraq, I would wake up every morning on my birthday to some morning news anchor reminiscing about “Shock and Awe” or giving a new tally on how many American lives had been lost in the previous year (or previous 5, or previous 10). It’s a great birthday present (sarcastic).
In the past few years, the war has not been the lead story on my birthday. Perhaps people got tired of the reminder that it was still happening. Perhaps we really felt like we finally accomplished our mission. (What was that, again?)
And just as I’m writing this and clicking through to CNN.com to get the latest on Iraq, I see this:
It could have been anything. I knew as soon as I went to CNN or the New York Times or some other “reputable” news source, there was going to be something devastating about what is going on in Iraq right now.
No, I don’t think Saddam Hussein was a good man. Yes, probably the whole planet is better off that he is no longer here. I have no idea if we went about it the right way, as I am not an expert in military or diplomatic strategy.
But current events lead me to believe that something about it was not quite right.
I remember listening to Condoleeza Rice, former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under the Bush Administration, say how history would show people that we did the right thing. One of her quotes, from an interview by Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC:
“I think that what we did in Iraq will be demonstrated by history to be an important part — an important pillar of a new Middle East.”
Is this the “new Middle East” they wanted? (Rhetorical.)
How much time until “what we did” can be counted as “history?”
I’ve seen 11 birthdays since this all started. How old will I have to be before Iraq is stable?
