Kansas Families Have One Question: Was Iraq Worth It?

A young Marine absorbs the shock of losing four buddies in an instant.

A father turns his career upside down and becomes a social worker after his son is killed.

A mom with four young children keeps things running at home while her husband tries to help the wounded in the war.

Kansans have sacrificed for Iraq. Their bodies have been broken – 409 have been injured. And 50 have died.

Now nearly nine years of war in Iraq is ending for the United States. Only 12,000 troops remain, down from a peak of about 170,000 at the war’s height. Virtually all are expected to be gone by the end of the year, except for about 200 attached to the U.S. embassy. The end comes with a high price tag: nearly 4,500 American dead, a bill approaching $1 trillion.

Was it worth it? No one knows better than those who sacrificed in some way. Their feelings are mixed.

Bob and Karen Funcheon have lain awake at night in their Bel Aire home thinking about that question and a zillion others since their son, Army Sgt. Alex Funcheon, was killed in Iraq in 2007.

“Was it worth his sacrifice? And it was his sacrifice, not ours. We may not know for 10 or 15 years,” Bob Funcheon said. “If Iraq goes back to dictatorship, it’s not going to be worth it.

“Am I going to feel better about his death, if it’s `successful?’ No, I am not. He’s dead either way. Will I ever get to the point where I’ll say it’s worth it? At this point, I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to say that.”

More