Sunday, December 18, 2011

Not With A Bang But A Whimper

Is it just me, or does the exit of the last U.S. troops from Iraq seem anti-climatic? There's been no banner headlines, no high-profile celebrations or parades - just a soft, almost silent sigh of relief from the troops and their loved ones. It all seems quite unsettling, almost surreal. Even the reaction of the media and the blogosphere seems strangely muted.

It is worth keeping in mind that the troop withdrawal deadline was specified in the Status of Forces Agreement signed by George W. Bush towards the end of his presidency, and overseen by obama. Of course, both sides will try and spin this to their advantage (e.g., pro-Bush here ; pro-obama here).

I'll leave it to others to debate the success or failure of the Iraqi mission. To me, the important thing is that thousands of our service members are out of harm's way, in time for the holidays.

For that, at least, we should all be thankful.

3 comments:

NavyOne said...

Yes, it was anti-climatic. Essentially forgotten.

I am not surprised though. Sad. . .

CenTexTim said...

NavyOne - IMO not so much forgotten as overlooked; sort of a *yawn* reaction. But yes, sad...

ToeJam - I guess that in this era of instant gratification we expect a culture to overcome centuries of indoctrination in a few short years.

Anonymous said...

I was not referring to an evolved, rational, Western culture, CentexTim.

I was referring to a irrational, evil Islamic culture.