Twenty years ago, the United States launched its first wave of attacks against Iraq. The mission to depose Saddam Hussein began with overwhelming popular support at home as Americans rallied to the Bush administration’s insistence that Iraq’s weapons stockpile posed a grave risk to the country and the world at large.
Time revealed the extent of that folly and the hubris invading and indefinitely occupying a diverse nation of 27 million. It came at a cost: thousands of American lives, possibly hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, trillions of dollars and the tarnishing of our nation’s reputation.
What the country should not forget — what it must not forget — is the selfless sacrifice of the American armed forces who risked their lives in the noble hope of helping Iraq forge a democratic future. Many of these heroes live here in Hampton Roads, and while Americans are right to view the war unfavorably, the warriors who served deserve our gratitude, our compassion and our ceaseless support.
