By Monir Khilla —
It’s been called “The War of Our Generation,” but after more than eight years, the Iraq war has officially ended. Many of us can recall being shocked and awed watching the initial bombings of Baghdad that lit up the sky in a dazzling display of “fireworks,” or the late-night talk show parodies of a mustached Geraldo Rivera giving away troop positions.
However, for many veterans, myself included, the end of the Iraq war is – in all honesty – a huge sigh of relief. Student-veterans no longer have to worry about prolonging school for another year due to a deployment, or having to hear about the death of a beloved comrade. Families of military personnel no longer have to be burdened with another deployment or sleepless nights worrying about their loved ones.
The war in Iraq has already been talked about in many of our books and to a generation widely unfamiliar with war, we got our taste. It’s one thing to read about past conflicts, such as WW2 and Vietnam, but to be a part of history and watching the events unravel before our eyes, the engagement will imprint those images in our minds. The real question we should ask ourselves is this: what impact has the Iraq war had on us?
The tangible costs can be measured: money, number of lives, time, and so forth. But after growing up watching a war televised and unfold before our very eyes, we should stop and consider what the war has done to us. Our reputation has, as some pundits may argue, been tarnished. We’re no longer looked upon as world leaders, but as an occupying force invading other countries for what we deem as our self-preservation. Our validity is now questioned and this causes a problem for us in the future as we look at other countries that may pose a real threat. As soon as the military option comes on the table, we’re automatically second-guessing our moves and wondering if this truly is the only way we can resolve differences with other countries.
Some of us have even began to look at others differently. Friends and family of fallen soldiers can generally agree that not all Muslims are bad, but will at least look at them distinctly. Much like WW2 and Vietnam, the war in Iraq has socially classified Muslims and Arabs as “the other.” We even have an internment camp in Cuba to detain them. Call it discrimination, prejudice, or even racism, but just by watching the news, every night it feels as if this generalization seems to be the unacknowledged elephant in the room.
With all the troops out of Iraq and back home, some of us may have already attended welcome back parties and gone drinking with our military buddies. The men and women in uniform will always serve as a reminder of what freedom costs; when we see them we no longer think of a paragraph in a book about Vietnam, WW2, or Korea, rather back to the images we saw growing up. We begin to realize what war is and comprehend the fact that it is not something that is just written about. Our generation, as future leaders, now understands the severity of going to war; the Iraq conflict will always be a reminder of the what consequences lie within our actions.