Today, I watched on MSNBC as the 4-2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team drove from their AO around the VBC to Kuwait. This was notable, because, apparently, they were the last "combat troops" in Iraq. Guess the 1-3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team isn't combat troops- oh, wait, I forgot, we've been redesignated the 1-3rd Advise and Assist Brigade.
It's like Viet'nam's progression in reverse. In the end, it boils down to a political name game. The last time Iraq was in open combat was Fallujah, which ended in 2005 or thereabouts. Suddenly, a promise to "bring the troops home" has to be fulfilled, and the way to fulfill it is by fiddlefucking with names. Suddenly, we're named with the mission we've all been performing- to advise and assist the Iraqi Security Forces- for the past four, five years.
We relieved those guys, the Last Combat Troops. They're going home to a party and something vaguely like a hero's welcome. The rest of the troops in Iraq no longer matter. Obama has hung up his "Mission Accomplished" banner. Not gone, but forgotten.
It's like Viet'nam's progression in reverse. In the end, it boils down to a political name game. The last time Iraq was in open combat was Fallujah, which ended in 2005 or thereabouts. Suddenly, a promise to "bring the troops home" has to be fulfilled, and the way to fulfill it is by fiddlefucking with names. Suddenly, we're named with the mission we've all been performing- to advise and assist the Iraqi Security Forces- for the past four, five years.
We relieved those guys, the Last Combat Troops. They're going home to a party and something vaguely like a hero's welcome. The rest of the troops in Iraq no longer matter. Obama has hung up his "Mission Accomplished" banner. Not gone, but forgotten.