I'm not going to use names, but these are quotes from some Iraq war vets I "know" through a Gold Star Mom.
It was very disheartening to see Mosul fall as I lived and worked there for a large portion of my deployment. I watched the Iraqi police and soldiers train and learn from us. I watched our civilians build schools and communities. I watched children gain confidence in us and their own law enforcement. I even saw us catch some "bad guys." And even though I knew it might not last forever, I never thought it would be so upsetting to see everything we did undone. All the months away from my family and friends working weird hours in dangerous situations seem to be lost to me right now.
The Iraqis wanted us there. They knew there was no security after Saddam was ousted. We trained with them, fight next to them, and eventually were their friends. I've read many comments from fellow vets and most say let's go. The only problem I have is that they don't have pride in country, they don't have trust in their government. They trusted us to take care of them.
I said this from the beginning, once the US leaves, the countries surrounding Iraq will fall in on them, taking whatever pieces they can, like vultures to a carcass.
Worst part, we did this all for nothing. Lost all those lives...We didn't finish the job.
It sucks. When we pulled out Malaki, as part of the agreement, would bring Sunni's into the government. No one on our side was validating this. 29,000 was the number that ground commanders wanted to see left there. Bad call on behalf of our so called leadership.
To be fair, there were also several comments stating that the Iraqis have no pride of country and had wanted us gone and that we need to let them sort out their own crap. I found it interesting. So there you have the thoughts of some OIF vets.
