I must say it felt good to watch coalition tanks roll through the streets of Baghdad. I admit that the war is going smoother than I thought it would. I was surprised to hear about Iraqi people cheering our troops and helping tear down Saddam’s statue. After all of the controversy in our country over the war, seeing that made me realize why we are involved.
There were times when I had my doubts about the war. For me, “Operation Iraqi Freedom” sounded more promotional than factual. CNN had interviews with Iraqi citizens who are exiled in America.
Hearing them say how thankful they are to the United States and they are glad that Saddam is finally out was uplifting. Still fresh in my mind are all of the anti-war protests and all of the people who opposed this war.
With that aside, there are the ever present concerns. How long are we going to be in Iraq? There is no real time-table set for when we pull our guys out of Iraq. I don’t really picture that happening for a while, seeing how long we had troops in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm.
Most importantly, what lies in the future for Iraq? Now that millions of people have been liberated, what do they do? Take into consideration that people have lost their homes, jobs and even their lives just to be free from Saddam’s rule.
A challenge lies ahead for the United States as well as the United Nations. Setting up a government and helping rebuild Iraq is going to be a long and expensive process. The United States and Britain are working on a program which wold give Iraq $40 billion in relief aid. Hopefully, the oil-for-food program will also compensate for a large portion of that money.
The truth is that we don’t know what is going to happen or how long whatever happens is going to take. We can only hope and pray that our soldiers will come home soon and that the Iraqi citizens can live in peace and enjoy life, something that some people take for granted.
Dave Miller is a junior communication major.