Congress’ Iraq Vets ask themselves, “What was the point of all that?”
(National Journal / Worthy News)– Americans are tired of war. For the 17 members of Congress who served in Iraq, that means watching helplessly as the cities they fought for fall once more to extremists.
Three Republican congressmen who served in Iraq—Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Doug Collins of Georgia, and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio—said it feels like the progress they made has been thrown away.
“Going out across the desert I remember the feelings that you have, wondering if you’re going to make it out alive,” Perry said. “Right now I wonder what that was all about. What was the point of all of that?”
“We have an enemy today that senses weakness, knows how to find it, and then goes after it,” Wenstrup said. “I think Iraq maybe thought they could [defend themselves]. This was an opportunity for us to have another ally in the region. I came home from Iraq feeling that we liberated 25 million people.”
The veterans in Congress also harbor doubts about what will happen in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are set to leave by 2016. But America isn’t rallying to step back into the war—and that means living with the consequences of letting Iraq and Afghanistan defend themselves. — Source