Justly Invaded Iraq Due My Question Is Blow

I’ve found that students today are not very familiar with what happened post-9/11, and especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq; which makes some sense given that many of you were quite young when this happened. For example, I’m always a little shocked (and somewhat worried) that some students will say they thought Saddam Hussein was involved with 9/11, or that we justly invaded Iraq due to connections to 9/11, and are themselves shocked to learn what actually happened (despite the truth being well known, today). I graduated high school in 2004, so many of the guys I grew up with joined the military and ended up fighting in Iraq, so for me this topic is quite personal and has spanned nearly the entire the length of my adulthood.

The repercussions of the Iraq disaster goes beyond the thousands of dead US soldiers, hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, and the trillions of dollars we spent. Unfortunately, the invasion of Iraq has provided the ISIS terrorist organization with a very effective propaganda story to recruit more members–portraying the U.S. as an invader force and killer of innocent Iraqi civilians. In fact ISIS emerged from what was left of Al Qaeda in Iraq, once the U.S. military left Iraq, shifting over into Syria as that country descended into civil war. ISIS base of support was in Syria and Northern Iraq, although the Iraq military forces (with some air support from US military) have successfully defeated ISIS in Iraq, and pushed them out of their remaining territories.

For today’s prompt, please write a brief reflection/reaction to what you’ve read/watched. I know this can be an emotionally difficult topic to address, and you’re welcome to say/express whatever you’re thinking/feeling–of course with respect for one another. Do make sure to make note of the role that journalism/news media played in the run up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.