Dregs from the morning coffee on July 2nd:
Isn’t it interesting that when you achieve the thing you wanted, in addition to the joy, there is always an undercurrent of sadness. June 30th was the official “last day” for American forces to take the front line police and terroristic response duties for Iraqi cities and territories. After all of the hubris and resultant angst of the past seven years America is finally going to return the sovereignty of Iraq back to the Iraqi people. As we do, the news sources are filled with stories of both Iraqi celebration and American pride in accomplishment. The belief that nearly our entire 130,000 Iraq based troops will be coming home or redeployed to other areas of the world within the next year brings joy to both the Iraqis and Americans alike. America’s involvement has moved to one of planning and technical assistance, logistical support and information gathering. But, as we leave, other news stories already make me very uneasy about the future of Iraq. Terroristic attacks within Iraq are on the increase. The recent auction of oil rights within this nation possessing the third largest oil reserves in the world was a bust with only the Chinese acquiring one of the available field sites. And, in the not-so-far-off “Land of the Pure” the Taliban has seen a strong resurgence that has become a threat to the stability of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It would seem that for all of the human, material, international political relationship and financial cost of America’s involvement in Iraq the vision of the future for the Iraqis, the region and the American international policy should be much brighter. I guess that’s where the sadness part comes from.