What Did We Accomplish?

We spent over a trillion dollars and several thousand American lives in our war with Iraq. Our plan, as best as I can understand it, was to get rid of Saddam Hussein and establish a democracy in Iraq. We assumed that the Iraqi people wanted a democratic government like the American people have. It doesn't seem to be working out that way. As of Tuesday a terrorist group that al Qaeda deemed to radical and unpredictable controls the second largest city in Iraq. They control the airport, government buildings, prisons and are riding around the areas they control in U.S. supplied Humvees. Much of the weaponry captured in the latest fighting is likely American as well. Who is this fine group that al Qaeda disavows? They are from the group known as Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). They now control Mosul the capital of Northern Iraq after six days of heavy fighting with Iraqi security forces. The speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Osama Nujaifi stated the militants have taken over the entire city, several villages and the military air base south of Mosul. The Iraqi security forces, taking a page out of the French military playbook, dropped their weapons, abandoned their posts and took off their uniforms as they fled. The militants overran several police stations and prisons setting the detainees free. They were seen running the streets in their yellow jumpsuits. The group has also managed to control Fallujah and the Iraqi army has fought for several months trying to regain control of that city. ISIS hasn't dropped its old tactics and continues to use car bombs to terrorize the population. On Saturday car bombs went off across Baghdad killing more than 60. The death toll from car bombs was over 4,000 at the end of May putting 2014 on pace to be the deadliest year in Iraq since the end of the U.S. war. Mosul sits at the boarder with Syria and was in an area being considered by the United Nations for use as a staging area to channel aid to those displaced by the civil war in Syria. Iraqi leadership is considering requesting international help in battling the insurgents but one wonders with the reluctance of the Iraqi troops to fight what good that might do. In December the United States sent Hellfire missiles and surveillance drones to support Iraqi security forces. Congress has opted since to hold back on supplying attack helicopters and other weapons due to their belief that the government would use them against domestic political enemies rather than terrorist groups.

So what did we accomplish in Iraq? It seems to be nothing that made the area safer for the Iraqi people or made the United States more secure from terrorist attacks. The folks who seemed to have benefited are the ones who supply the machinery of war to the United States government. We don't have our troops there we just send supplies to the Iraqis. It appears that when the going gets tough they just run off leaving the weapons behind. Maybe we should just cut out the middle man and start allowing our corporations to sell directly to the insurgent groups. No, that wouldn't work because they wouldn't pay as much as the government does for military supplies. Best for the U.S. taxpayer to get stuck with the bill.

When will we learn that everybody doesn't want to be like us?