A Day Of Dishonor

The ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has come and gone, and with little fanfare.

The Iraq War should never have had a first anniversary. President Bush announced on May 1, 2003 – in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner – that "the United States and our allies have prevailed" and "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." If the war had ended then, it would have resulted in the deaths of "only" 140 U.S. soldiers.

But, of course, it didn’t end. Just like it didn’t end on August 31, 2010, when President Obama proclaimed that "the American combat mission in Iraq has ended" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country." By that time 4,420 U.S. soldiers had died for a lie.

The war in Iraq did not "officially" end until December 18, 2011, after 4,484 U.S. soldiers had died in vain. The war lasted more than twice as long as the U.S. war against Nazi Germany in World War II.

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