Now in Darkness World Stops Turning (Blog #4)

The United States military was involved in Iraq for a decade, beginning days after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Under the impression that more terrorists in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were waiting to launch a full scale war against the United States, President George W. Bush asked Congress for a declaration of war in Iraq, that the United States military may "seek and destroy any and all weapons of mass destruction." The nation took advantage of this opportunity to overthrow Saddam Hussein, the corrupt Iraqi president, resulting in the introduction of a democratic constitution. While the search for WMD came up negative, the United States military remained active in Iraq until 2011, at which point they deemed the Iraqis could control their own nation. Well, over the past couple of years we have seen an increase in Sunni minority leaders challenging the United States-installed regime, run by the Shia majority. The crisis has become even more complicated as the Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) has come to power in northwestern Iraq, further splintering the fragile union between Sunni and Shia. This situation may not seem to resemble any conflict of the previous century, however there is a strong likeness between the United States intervention in Vietnam 50 years ago and the debacle in Iraq.

The Vietnamese were a polarized people, divided by ideologies: the communist Vietcong of the North and the free, peace loving Vietnamese of the South. These two factions battled over control of the nation, similar to the situation the United States has now created in Iraq. The IS militants are more alike to America than we may think; they are carrying out their own personal agenda in the midst of a nation, or rather two nations' civil wars. America only intervened in Vietnam to protect the freedom of OUR democratic world, and IS is looking to protect their right to a state where they can practice Sharia law. The United States is currently involved in Iraqi affairs militarily without the authorization of Congress, an authorization that should not have been given to the initial war in Iraq a decade ago. There is no doubt that the effects of the war are similar at home; we have "shell shocked" veterans, protesters (not necessarily of the same magnitude), and an overall dissatisfaction with the government. We can only hope that the United States involvement in Iraq will have a more positive ending that the military intervention in Vietnam.