Retired US officer reflects on Iraq withdrawal

I am an admitted peace activist who is and was against military options unless we are attacked by a country. I also come from a family where many members were in the military. Listening to former Army Captian, Blake Hall tenderly and with great sensitivity speak of his feelings about leaving Iraq, I was very moved. His obvious loyalty to his men and to his country was not in question as he portrayed his mixed feelings about the intent of our mission in Iraq and the ultimate outcome. I appreciated how he commended his troops and gave them full credit for doing the best that they could. He was not a trumpet for the decision to go to war, rather a thoughtful person who did not think of the Iraqi’s as expendable, rather as human beings caught up in a war, like the soldiers, not of their choosing. Listening to him reminded me again of how invading Iraq has created a very sad situation where the terms, winning and losing are not applicable, rather simply trying to make the best of a bad situation is the most that we can hope for.