This was a war that divided at least two nations, both Iraq and the United States. It was a war that plummeted my country into crippling debt, bringing us to the brink of economic breakdown. It is a war that has ended the lives of 4417 Americans(so far). It is a war that shattered the lives of 31,929 soldiers(so far), who in one way or another, were wounded in the war effort. This was a war that will impact the lives of my generation forever. These soldiers, they come home, and they readjust to life here. But some can't. The minds of some of these men are so maimed, so forever destroyed by what they experienced that they can never readjust to society. These men kill themselves, or they live life as a shell of their former selves for the rest of their lives. America loves a fighting man, especially when he's successful, but for every story we hear about a man returning home and doing well, there's the story not told of the man who can't sleep at night, the story not told of the man who didn't sleep for 5 days straight, the story not told of the man who died because he couldn't cope with the depression he faced because of the war.
Who's fault is it?
Mine. Yours. Ours. Especially us younger folk. We didn't do our job as a citizen in the United States of America. We took everything at face value. We stopped caring, we were complacent with the status quo. We voted for the men who made the decisions that led to this war, and then failed to voice dissent when things went awry. People blame Hitler for WWII. That's mighty fucking convenient for every German citizen to who voted for the bastard, and then stood complacent when people started getting rounded up in the middle of then night. We, as Americans, must live up to our failures, and this war, this was a monumental failure that could have been prevented, and should have been dealt with sooner. Kids out there, think back to your days when your parents were young. Did they grow up in America? Did they grow up in the 60's and 70's like mine did? Did they protest the war in Vietnam, or did they support the effort? Regardless of how they felt, they made their voice heard. The baby boomer generation made their voice heard, and they changed the outcome of this country. They were radical. They were on the FAR extremes of issues. They spit in soldiers faces and burned flags. They shot protesters and repressed freedom. All in the name of their cause. Was it good? Probably not. Was it necessary? Yes, it was. They needed to be heard and they made themselves heard through whatever means they could. Ask people who experienced the late 60s. They'll tell you it was hell, as if the the world was on the verge of ending. But they persevered, they changed the way things were.
Have we done that? Have we protested? Have we recognized that what we're doing is wrong, and done what it takes to change the course of history?
No. We recognized it. In fact, I'd say we recognized the failures of this country better than any other generation in the past. Look at the vast amount of information we have at our disposal, any of us, to form an opinion on a policy. But by no means, BY NO MEANS, have we done anything to change it. We haven't taken to the streets, we haven't called out representative, we haven't taken it to the polls and made it an issue(and those of you who say the Democrat majority in government is anti-war, you're out of your fucking mind, the industrial military complex churns regardless of which two major parties are in power). We haven't staged sit ins and we haven't burned buildings. We have done nothing. And for that, we allowed the leviathan we call our federal government to do whatever it wishes. Topple dictators across the world, borrow money that isn't ours, waste it on government programs and agencies that will bankrupt our nation. We allowed that to happen. We cannot blame our representatives fully. The blame falls on us. Bush was just one man. But we allowed him to trample ALL over our freedoms and proceed on an imperial rampage that has scarred our nation forever. Less concerning but still relevant is the lives of those outside the US we have affected. Thousands upon thousands dead, hundreds of thousands of people displaced and impoverished.
What have we gained?
Very little. Another piece of foreign land to build a military base on. Another foreign government toppled. Another reason a generation of people will hate the United States. Girls can go to school in Baghdad now, but it's a shame an IED killed everyone on the bus because it was driving by a targeted US contractor's place of business. We pretty much destroyed the idea of international prestige. We further destabilized the shit hole of Earth we call the middle east. We might get some oil futures out of the deal, and the industrial military complex grew exponentially. We sacrificed our fortunes, our futures, and our freedoms, and we gained nothing.
Why does our youth not act?
It's simple. Our quality of life wasn't affected immediately. We were told we were in danger. We were told we needed to do this. That no was simply not an option. We knew wars were expensive, but hell, I still eat, I still got this car from my parents, I still can play videogames, I'm still going to school, my life is not affected right now.
So we stood by as men and women lined up to be shipped out to a desert thousands of miles away to fight the bad guys and prevent bad things from happening to us here, in the US. If we don't fight them there, they will get us here. If we don't fight the communists in Vietnam, they will show up on our shores, right? We fell for the same bullshit. Shame on us. And we continually realized that this statement was wrong, that the reasons stated for continuing the war are not legitimate. But we didn't do anything about it. For 7 years we stood by. We eventually voted in a congress and president opposed to the war, but they perpetuated another one. When are we going to learn? No, when are we going to act?
We all know war is bad. We all know wars drain economies. We all know loss of life is inevitable. We all know that wars have international political consequences. We all know there is blowback created by our actions abroad that could lead to disastrous events down the road. We all know that war is never worth it. But we voted for one, we stood complacent while one took place, and we are responsible for all the devastation we wrought. We have to own up to this. We all do. We all have to know that we failed in our duty as citizens, and that next time we won't trust our government as much, we will make our voice heard, we won't accept the status quo, we will overthrow tyranny when it encroaches upon us, and we will never allow another mistake like this to happen again.
"That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
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