Iraq War ends---sort of...

Today, August 31, 2010, US combat operations ended in Iraq.

Or is it?

Nearly 50,000 American soldiers remain in Iraq, still in combat formations, still armed, still likely to engage the enemy if attacked or called by the Iraqis for assistance.

Rather broad definition of "over."

Kind of like "Mission Accomplished"

Even if we take this statement at face value, the question remains, "Was the Iraq War worth it?"

Some one back in the 50s once asked the Zhou Enlai, then Preimer of China, if the French Revolution (1789) was a good idea. His answer: "I don't know yet."

Right now, after seven years of fighting, 4500 US KIAs and God knows how many Iraqi deaths, the answer, at the moment, seems like "no." But maybe in twenty years when Iraq is a stable democracy and it begins to spread in the Middle East, we can say the sacrifice was worth it.

Wht if Iraq collapse? Do we fight our way back in or do we walk away from it? Not an easy question.

For every good thing, we can find something bad. We deposed a brutal dictator but have we unleashed an instability that is worse? Or is a democracy painfully crawling forward?

We never found the weapons of mass destruction that was supposed to be the cause of the war but US forces fought, fought well and defeated al-Qieda. But will it rise up again after we leave Iraq?

On September 10, 2001, terrorists (and a lot of our allies) thought America was too decadent and weak to strike back. A French diplomat smirked during the 1999 Kosovo air campaign, "The Americans are brave when they bomb someone from 30,000 feet."

In Iraq and Afghanistan, American soldiers fought eye to eye with the enemy with rifles and shotguns and then shovels and knives. We also showed the world we could and would fight.

But the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan have been hideously expensive (in lives and dollars) and badly organized.

And success remains in doubt.

I hope a generation from now, we will look at a prosperous, free, and peaceful Middle East and wonder what all the fuss was about. On the other hand, given the region's history, there is not a lot of cause for optimism.

We did not lose in Iraq but it does not feel like a victory.

More like a sigh of relief.

But it is not over yet.