Visual Rhetoric

Coming Home from War?


Despite what you think of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, when a soldier returns home walking off a plane and not in a wooden box it is a happy, cheerful moment. The war started 8 years ago after September 11, 2001 and America was in search of Osama bin Laden and Al Queda. Somehow the war spread to Iraq as well. This war has lasted longer than World War I, World War II, and the Civil War. The cost of the war exceeds 1 trillion dollars and the cost is only rising. Aside from the numbers of the war, the lives of those in the military and those that they left behind have changed drastically. Four thousand have lost their lives will serving in the Middle East and sixty thousand have been injured. Now the question that arises for many Americans is when will troops be sent back home?
An answer to this question is very hard to find and when you do find answers, they are all different. Now that Barack Obama has been elected president and taken office, he hopes to “safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began” (“War in Iraq”). The summer of 2010 is not far away which makes Obama’s word seem somewhat doubtful. It seems to me like he would not put an end date on it because as soon as he announces 2010 people will not settle for anything later. There are sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and siblings over there that people are only waiting for. Another empty promise of safety is not what this country needs. I agree that we should slowly return brigades from Iraq, but I do not think it will take only sixteen months. Neither does Xan Smiley of the magazine, “The World in 2009”, “Though the new president will reiterate his desire to withdraw all American troops as soon as possible, he will almost certainly concede that a rigid timetable cannot be adhered to. Much will depend on the situation on the ground” (Smiley). Obama’s hope to pull troops out of Iraq is often only half talked about. He plans to leave “a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel” (“War in Iraq”). How large is a residual force? Is it 2,000 troops? 5,000? 10,000? This residual force could always serve as the reason for troops remaining in Iraq; it could be a way for the president and his personnel to cover all their bases in the end. Hopefully, Obama’s promises to the public and the troops will be carried out because it is time for out for the forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to dissipate and return to the United States. The U.S. cannot serve as the mediator for every worldwide conflict. While this war started as a response to the terror attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the goal of the war has now moved to establishing a government in Iraq and controlling terror groups in Afghanistan. While some forces in Afghanistan maybe necessary, we are not the government of Iraq and should not intercede their problems.