Our troops are on their way home!
I have made a goal to be more aware of what is going on in the economy, government and the world this semester. I am going to pick up the New York Times every school day and read it. Today I have already found out so much that normally I would not hear of unless I heard other people discussing the topic. In today’s edition I found out that Obama gave a speech in the Oval office last night that declared our troops are FINALLY on their way home. Obama wants to focus on our economy and eliminate trillions of dollars that have been spent in Iraq to be turned into money to get America back on our feets. Once again, he has made me very proud to have voted for him in the 2008 elections. He is fulfilling one of his many promises.
However I did have my doubts when first reading the article. I was unsure how the Iraqis would react to America finally, and slowly, leaving Iraq. The last thing we need is something similar to another 9/11. However there are still going to be troops to assist Iraq until late 2011 to help them get back on their feet. Underneath this article was a small column from a reporter in Baghdad, Anthony Shadid. He interviewed a few Iraqi’s asking them if things have gotten better since March 20, 2003 and many of them replied no. The Iraqi government is not getting back on their feet by themselves. They have had posters of the election, but still a coalition has not been formed. Whether or not we have truly helped Iraq, I do agree with President Obama when he said, “we cannot do for Afghans what they must ultimately do for themselves.” We could spend another 7 years in Afghanistan to try to get them to create a better government making us even more in debt by trillions of dollars (which most of the money we are getting from other countries) or we let them fend for themselves and try to form a government without us interfering with a strong force. We are the United States, not the world. We can only help so much, but we should not overstay our welcome which I feel like we have.
Ultimately I am very happy that our troops are coming home. :D
