The Cost of War

"I hate war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatreds it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in the place of democracies, and for the starvation that stalks after it. I hate war, and never again will I sanction or support another." -- Harry Emerson Fosdick

They say hindsight is 20/20.

I think it's easy for us to sit here on the third anniversary of the start of the War in Iraq and talk about what a horrible mistake it was, but things are rarely that black and white.

Whether or not President Bush made up the fact that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Whether or not Saddam Hussein was as evil and unjust as he seemed.
Whether or not Iraq was somehow involved in the September 11th attacks or any other acts of terrorism upon the United States.
Whether or not the Iraqi people ever wanted our help.
Whether or not this war was necessary at all.

All those questions seem largely inconsequential three years later.

Who cares, when today in Iraq three clashing cultures are on the verge of a civil war?
When the elections that took place three months ago have failed to lead to the establishment of a functioning government?
When every day the war is costing the United States $193 million dollars?
When 2,136 brave men and women have died defending our country?
When 132,000 U.S. troops are stationed in war zones away from their families?
When tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have paid the ultimate price for relatively little freedom?

My biggest problem with this war? There's no plan. It seems like maybe there never was. Where are we going? Where is the end of this road? What is the price -- monetary and otherwise -- that this country is willing to pay? And what are we paying for?

Democracy?
Peace?
Power?

Sometimes sacrifices are necessary to achieve a larger goal. And when this war started, I wasn't totally against the idea of using war to achieve a better life for the Iraqi people. But when there is no semblance of a path toward that goal, the sacrifice seems obsolete. And when the sacrifices are peoples' lives, that simply cannot be the case.

I'm sick of politicians bickering about the war in Iraq like toddlers fighting over a Barbie Doll. Sometimes it's not about who's right and who's wrong.

Sometimes it's about swallowing your pride, admitting your mistakes and cleaning up the mess.

And the little Iraqi girl whose parents and family were killed by insurgents -- angry at the United States and their interference, angry that their country has become a policed state, angry that the promise of a "better life" has not been kept -- is always more important than who gets to use the war in Iraq as a political bargaining chip in their next campaign speech.