by Paris Kaye

Created on: November 28, 2011

On March 20, 2003, an event took place that would forever change global history and create a lasting impact for generations to come. It was on that date coalition forces initiated “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. At the end of December 2011, a term of eight years, nine months and eleven days will have passed, as operations currently known as Operation New Dawn, will formally end.

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and subsequent referenda between the United States and the Iraqi government designates December 31, 2011 as the last day of operations in Iraq. The war that arrived roaring like a ferocious lion, or as the official catchphrase poetically euphemized “shock and awe”, leaves like a lamb.

Were military operations within the borders of Iraq successful? How does one measure military success during this, the 21st century? What were our defined objectives in Iraq? To address, intelligibly, these questions; one must glance backward. 

During the months preceding these initial events, an enraged nation, 18-months fresh from September 11, sat poised for an alternative action through which to funnel their collective rage. The Afghanistan War, or Operation Enduring Freedom, started on October 7, 2001, did little to appease the bloodlust of a nation, ad manes fratrum, as U.S. forces conducted operations in the barren mountainous regions of a forgotten land. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) secured Kabul by year’s end.

In essence, military action in Afghanistan introduced the world to a new form of warfare as the military’s focus fell upon a terror group and members contained therein and not exclusively on a nation-state per se. 

Historically, wars erupted over issues such as territorial disputes and partitioning of land rights, over religion. The twentieth-century saw the advent of wars waged on the premise of political ideology. The twenty-first century brought us the war on terrorism.

On a side but related note of much greater significance, it would be the first step in an Orwellian process wherein one could and would be accountable, at times mortally, for one’s thoughts. Logic dictates that military successes more oft occur not as a reactive response, or after the fact; but through preemption and proactive measures.

“Terrorist”, an ambivalent and relative term, served as a template by which active profiling developed. Military personnel and civilians

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