We have a job to do [in Iraq] now that we are there. If we leave now, it would be the biggest disservice to the state we are trying to form there. As we see in the media, Iraq is at a turning point; if we leave now, it will [make a] turn for the worse. If we stay strong, we can successfully help this new government thrive.

The United States needs to buckle down and get this war over the right way. Not cutting and running, but finishing the job. And we definitely need to treat our veterans better. The reason we have such a hard time finding volunteers for the military is the way average citizens treat our returning war fighters.

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation.”
—George Washington

The United States needs to accept the fact that we have the strongest military in the world and use it to win wars, not just wage them for show. We are still stuck fighting a war not to lose it, as opposed to fighting to win. Originally, I found the start of the war to be a little questionable, but now that we are there, we need to finish the job and give our soldiers the tools to do it. I think the situation we have in Iraq is easy to sway either way, but if we back out now, the consequences would be immense.

I think there is the wrong type of media coverage in America in general. Positive journalism is just not practiced anymore. It appears to me as if the American news stations are trying to find the worst news domestically and abroad. When translated to Iraq, this is bad news for the troops who come home to people telling them they don’t belong in American cities. I question whether anyone has even heard how many provinces are solely in Iraqi control—and secured—or how many are due to be turned over this year. All that is reported is the number of war fighters dead and more insurgents attacked us because THE INSURGENTS don’t like us there, and most of them are foreign fighters, not Iraqis.

The media is definitely biased, but it’s not a liberal or conservative bias; it’s one of scare tactics. The fact that we have been in a war for over five years and only lost just over 4,000 people is actually very good, all things considered. We have been fighting mainly urban battles against a fanatical enemy, and we invaded a country with a military in the top five largest in the world. This war has been fought with minimal casualties, yet the media portrays it as everywhere you go in Iraq, you are going to die. The media portrayal says it’s not if, but when, a war fighter will die in Iraq, which is not the case at all.

In the Civil War, we lost 4,000 men in an hour of fighting. In World War I, we lost that number in minutes. In World War II, we lost that in a day. In Vietnam, we lost that in a year, maybe two. The whole thing needs to have its perspective readjusted. The Soviets fought a counter-insurgency in Afghanistan that had huge casualty rates. What isn’t reported is the progress in government, the debates in parliament, who and what is rebuilding the infrastructure in Iraq, etc. Everything is funneled down to who died and how we should leave.

If Americans want to use the military to end genocides and be the bringer of good to the world, they have to let the military do its job the way it intended. When an individual soldier is too scared to fire his weapon in self-defense because he is worried that when he gets back to base he will be charged by new rules of war set down upon him by civilian courts 5,000 miles away, that is a disservice to the soldier. When the people responsible for defending our rights and freedoms are told they have no right to be in American cities (like Berkeley, Calif., has done), that is a travesty.

The worst result of the Vietnam War is that the common citizen feels that the individual soldier is the one to blame for a war gone wrong and it should be taken out on them. What Americans need to realize is that until the government fears its populous again more than the populous fears the government, our politicians will be able to make decisions with impunity. Until then, they will continue to make decisions based on political and personal gains, as opposed to making decisions based on what is best for the masses.

Voting for American Idol is more [popular] than [voting for] any presidential election in history, which shows politicians that Americans just don’t care about politics, no matter how much they protest or say things in the street; they will not do the one simple thing that is our greatest civic duty and the one right we should cherish most: VOTE.

I close by asking anyone who reads this who is under the voting age, as I was in the past election year, to at least push your parents to vote. It doesn’t matter who they vote for as long as they do it; [they should] show politicians that they no longer are dealing with an ignorant population that does not care enough to take action. Before we can expect our politicians to take action on our behalf, we have to take action on our own. Please use your voice for good wherever you can.

Note: For various reasons, this college student’s identity will remain anonymous. But please feel free to add your comments to this opinion below.