The United States fought in Iraq for nine years. With the exception of the war in Afghanistan, it was America's longest combat engagement ever: longer than the American Civil War, the two World Wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Any country that enters into a war emerges from it changed. It is inevitable that there is a before and an after. There are the dead, the wounded, the survivors.
But that's not all. There are wars that are just and necessary, like America's fight against Nazi Germany. And there are wars that are senseless and wrong, like the war against Iraq. Society, politicians and the military have drawn lessons from both wars. They recognize and welcome these lessons to varying degrees, whether they are right or wrong. War transforms a nation.
Bruce Riedel, formerly a senior CIA official and presidential adviser, views the transition as such: "The Iraq War elected Barack Obama and transformed American foreign policy. There is a national consensus (that) it was a dumb war, (that) the costs were enormous and that it was one of the country's biggest mistakes." The shadow of this war, he continues, "weighs heavily" on the stances that America is now assuming toward Iran, Syria and Libya. The war's legacy "will haunt America for years."
Ten years ago, on March 19, 2003, then-President George W. Bush announced the beginning of the war, saying that America "will accept no outcome but victory." Eight years and nine months later, on Dec. 18, 2011, the last US soldiers pulled out of Iraq. President Barack Obama declared: "The tide of war is receding."
What remains from the war? How has it changed America and Americans? And how has it altered American policies. Here are 10 lessons for the 10th anniversary of the launching of combat operations against Iraq:
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