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^P ortland Observer B lack H istory M onth ___________________ February I, 2012
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A Zero on the Home Front’s Richter Scale
Iraq War ends
and hardly
anyone notices
by
D onald K aul
Am ong
the
strange things that
happened last year
— and there were
many — perhaps
the strangest was
the end of the Iraq
War.
Did you notice
it? I wouldn't blame you if you
didn't. It hardly even registered
on the home front's R ichter
scale.
We didn't leave in triumph
(that was World War II). We
didn't leave in confused em bar
rassment (that was Vietnam).
We just left. We practically tip
toed aw ay, hop in g nobody
would notice. And nobody did,
hardly.
I remember the end of World
War II. I was a 10-year-old in
Detroit. My parents took me
downtown to experience the cel
ebration, for which I am for
ever grateful.
It was an extraordinary mo
ment — an explosion of joy and
relief and sense of victory, un
like any I had seen before or
since. They didn't call it "V-J
Day" for nothing. It stood for
Victory over Japan, and the en
tire nation gloried in that
triumph.
That's why hundreds of
thousands of Detroiters,
along with millions else
where, spilled out of our
homes to share our feeling
of exultation with the
people who had shared the
pain of that war.
That was the key, I think: World
War II was a shared experience.
People hung one-star flags in their
windows to indicate the military
service of a family member — a
sad gold star to indicate a death.
Butter and meat were rationed, as
was gasoline. Middle-aged neigh
bors volunteered as "air raid war
dens" to patrol the streets in their
white helmets during practice
drills.
Even I, a kid, pulled my red
wagon around the neighborhood
collecting newspapers for the
"paper drives," all in the name of
the war effort.
The war, for us, only lasted
four years. But it had seemed an
eternity, and the nation reacted to
its abrupt end like an inflated bal
loon suddenly unsealed.
That was Detroit that night,
and New York and Chicago and
San Francisco and every other
city of size in the country.
Compare the conduct of that
war to the Iraq conflict. Was
anything asked of the American
people in the Iraq War? Anything
at all?
Certainly not taxes. They were
cut so that "job creators" could
create jobs, which they did —
mainly in China.
Nor participation. We've got
an all-volunteer armed force
coupled with a large number of
contracted m ercenaries. You
didn't join up unless you wanted
to (or couldn't get a better job).
I remember President George
W. Bush being asked at the begin
ning of the conflict what the
American people could do to con
tribute to the war effort. "Go
shopping," he said. That was the
great sacrifice we were asked to
make.
The young men and women
we sent to fight that eight-year
war bore virtually the entire bur
den of it — nearly 4,500 U.S.
military deaths, along with about
1,500 military contractors, and
God knows how many thousands
of Iraqis, both friend and foe.
Thousands more Americans were
maimed or psychologically dam
aged, their futures truncated. (The
unemployment rate for returning
veterans 20-24 years old is 30
percent.)
The war cost well over $800
billion and counting, mocking
Bush adviser Paul Wolfowitz's
prediction that it would pay for
itself.
It was a lousy war from the
beginning, sold to the American
people on false pretenses, and it
has done us precious little good.
We were hardly out of the door
when the sectarian rivalries that
existed before we got there began
to shred the country again.
So much for creating a model
democracy, which was one of
the stated goals of the invasion.
The chief result of the war was
the strengthened position of Iran,
our sworn enemy in the region.
Some wars end with a bang,
others with a whimper. The end
of the Iraq War was accompa
nied by the sound of one hand
clapping.
OtherWords columnist Donald
Kaul lives in Ann Arbor, Mich.