As US Troops Leave Iraq, Some Ask: Was The War Worth It? -- Anna Mulrine, Christian Science Monitor
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that the cost of the war was high, but that troops gave birth to a 'free and sovereign' Iraq. More than 4,400 US service members died in Iraq.
As the American war in Iraq comes to an end, some troops find themselves grappling with a question that has dogged them through multiple deployments: Was the sacrifice worth the price that US forces paid here?
“I’ve had people come to me, ‘Why were we there? What did we do? Why did 4,000 die in Iraq? Why did I lose my friend?’ ” says Lt. Col. Mark Rowan, an Air Force chaplain who has served 12 deployments and who has counseled troops returning from Iraq. “We don’t really know the answer to that yet.”
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Iraq War: A Formal End -- New York Times
An Unstable, Divided Land -- Reidar Visser, New York Times
What Iraq changed -- New York Post editorial
Syria’s civil war is bigger than Syria itself -- Jim Hoagland, Washington Post
Syria's opposition should be careful not to overplay its hand -- James Harkin, The Guardian
Will China’s rulers listen to the voices of its downtrodden masses? -- Jonathan Fenby, The Telegraph
By Choosing Arms Over Diplomacy, America Errs in Asia -- Stephen Glain, New York Times
Why Russia Matters to China -- David Cohen, The Diplomat
Russia’s new generation hits the streets -- Masha Lipman, Washington Post
Merkel ends the postwar era -- Mark Jurkevich, The Washington Times
A comedy of euros: Britain had a bad summit, but the euro zone had a worse one -- The Economist
The Euro: A Bridge to Nowhere -- Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Policy
The wages of appeasement -- Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post