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Courtesy IAVA
Former U.S. Marine Sergeant Derek Coy says he still struggles "both mentally and physically, with the toll it took on me and countless others do as well."
Derek Coy hails from Baytown, Texas, and could be a poster child for American veterans of the war in Iraq as they look back and ask: "Was it all worth it?"
A former U.S. Marine sergeant based in the volatile Anbar province at the height of the conflict, Coy is proud of his service and believes the "invaluable tools" he gained as a Marine will ultimately help him succeed in life.
But seven years since he left Iraq, he’s fighting a different battle — against anxiety, depression and emotional numbness — the effects of post-traumatic stress.
March 19, 2008: Speaking on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, President George W. Bush said that while the costs had been high, "this is a fight America can, and must win."
"I still struggle, both mentally and physically, with the toll it took on me and countless others do as well," he said.
Tuesday will mark 10 years since the "shock and awe" invasion and more than a year since the last company of U.S. troops left Iraq. But only about 4 in 10 Americans who fought there — according to a Pew Research Center poll — believe the reasons for going to war justified the loss in blood and treasure.
Almost 4,500 U.S. troops were killed and more than 32,000 wounded, including thousands with critical brain and spinal injuries. Estimates of the number of Iraqi civilian fatalities are staggering, ranging from 100,000 to 600,000.
The monetary cost could exceed $3 trillion.
While the war in Iraq has ended, the sacrifice for vets continues back in a civilian world they often find "foreign" and isolating.
Ann Weeby, a native of Boyne City, Michigan, was deployed at the beginning of the war, attached to the 101st Airborne under then-Major General David Petraeus , in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.
The pain of the burning and the screams of his family are the memories Ali Abbas carries from the Iraq War. Then, as a 12 year old boy injured by the U.S. missile that killed his family, Ali's plight moved the world. Â ITV's Paul Davies reports.Â
"Our goal was to find weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein," she said.
"After WMDs were not found and Saddam was captured, I didn’t expect [such a] prolonged U.S. military presence in Iraq," she added.
As the only person her family and friends know who fought in the war, Weeby tries to educate them about the scourges of depression and suicide that U.S. vets face after Iraq.
"American troops are suffering, and in some cases dying, because a Veterans Affairs' claims backlog is preventing them from getting [mental] health care. Twenty-two U.S. veterans commit suicide every day!" Weeby said, citing a troubling statistic recently published by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Courtesy IAVA
Ann Weeby, who was attached to the 101st Airborne, went in to look for WMDs and Saddam Hussein. "I didn't expect [such a] prolonged U.S. military presence in Iraq," she said.
'The cost was high'
When Leon Panetta, then secretary of defense, addressed U.S. troops in Baghdad before they pulled out of Iraq, he argued that their core mission had been accomplished.
"To be sure, the cost was high," he said. "But those lives were not lost in vain. They gave birth to an independent, free, and sovereign Iraq."
Today, however, Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, heads what looks more like an authoritarian regime, propped up by a coercive secret service.
Toby Dodge, an analyst at U.K.-based think tank Chatham House, claimed Iraq had morphed into a pro-Iran police state, where Sunni gunmen and al Qaeda’s suicide bombers seem to strike at will, killing hundreds each week.
His conclusion: 10 years after regime change in Iraq, little has changed.
"The lives of ordinary Iraqis, in terms of the relationship to their state and their economy, are comparable to the situation they faced in the country before regime change," he said in a report written for Chatham House.
Many Iraq War veterans admit they were fighting more for their battle buddies than for any "island of democracy" in the Arab world.
Courtesy IAVA
Robert Contreras, who had two tours of duty in Iraq, returned to California to finish a college degree, where he has struggled to relate to other students. "The most common question I get … is if I've ever killed someone," he said.
Robert Contreras, from Sylmar, California, left the military after 10 years in the Navy, including two tours of duty in Iraq, and returned to California to finish a college degree.
"Personally, I was not there fighting for Iraq," he said when asked if the war was won or lost.
"I was there to protect those who served alongside me to the best of my abilities," he said.
He’s struggled to relate to his student peers who know little about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The most common question I get … is if I’ve ever killed someone," he said.
Contreras also developed symptoms of PTSD. "I was anxious in crowded places and unable to feel at ease anywhere but at home."
Veterans like Weeby and Coy have found a therapeutic way to generate positives from their Iraq War experiences — and better deal with some of the nagging uncertainties about Iraq’s future: They’ve reached out to their fellow vets.
Weeby is an outspoken advocate for San Francisco Bay Area veterans, while Coy is an associate at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, or IAVA, the first and largest non-profit group representing U.S. vets from those wars.
Both are currently in Washington, D.C., part of the "Storm the Hill" offensive, pressuring Congress to address key veterans’ issues, like 9.4 percent unemployment and a bottle-necked health-care program.
NBC News' Kerry Sanders and Mike Taibbi, along with Kimberly Dozier of the Associated Press, reflect on their experiences on the ground in Iraq 10 years ago.
"Coming home with a renewed appreciation for my life and freedoms, I’ve committed my career to helping others," reflected Weeby.
U.S. military commanders would argue that the war in Iraq brought important changes there: Iraqis are better off without Saddam Hussein and have at least gained a fledgling democracy and national elections.
But 10 years since “shock and awe” was supposed to clear the path for a liberated Iraq and a "forward strategy of freedom" that would sweep across the Middle East, Iraqis are instead falling victim to wave upon wave of sectarian violence.
And many of their American "liberators" are fighting for their own survival — back home.
Jim Maceda has covered Iraq since the 1980s.
Related:
Concern grows about military suicides spreading within families
The enemy within: Soldier suicides outpaced combat deaths in 2012
Full Iraq coverage from NBC News
Leave a Comment:
Vietnam couldn't maintain what we had won for them after 1973. Two years later, they gave it up, and we got blamed. When Iraq implodes, we'll get blamed for that as well.
Perry, have you ever wondered why South Vietnam gave up? Well here’s one reason why. The United States, left the ARVN with a military that had an operating cost higher than the countries GNP. Then, Nixon cut foreign aid to South Vietnam, which left them unable to maintain the military the US had left for them. I'd say thats a reason to blame the US
Well, I get that and you're correct. I'd just like everyone to understand that the troops were never to blame. At least this generation is realizing that now finally. Hopefully, the next generation is going to change all this nonsense and come up with a real government.
Perry-2713557
The troops were never to blame? Hmmm I’m not sure I totally agree with that, but it depends on how you define “troops.” Are you talking about “troops” as in the infantrymen conscripted and fighting on the ground or the whole military? As its very clear to me that the US millitary does hold alot of acountability for the failures of Vietnam
First let me state I respect all Veterans being one myself. Was the war in Iraq worth it? No. Was the war in Viet Nam worth it? No. More U S troops were killed in Viet Nam in Jan., Feb. and March 1968 than were Killed in Iraq in the total war.
I arrived there in November 1968. All full of piss and vinegar and gung ho. A year later I left broken. It hasn't gotten any better for me. All Iraq did for me was make me even angrier. Then, that fool Obama wants to have his crusade in Afghanistan. No telling wtf the North Koreans nor Iranians are going to do yet.
Perry,
Respect to any Vet from Nam...
Afghanistan was the only place we should have ever had boots on the ground, We should have went there and mopped the Taliban up after 911. We should have been home Years ago with a mission complete. That was the only place we needed to be not Iraq, that was just a waste of men and money.. and time.. time that should have been spent on Afghanistan.
Hold on everyone save some of your posts for later as it seems we are having war withdrawal and will be sucked in to Iran. In several yrs. from now lets all meet back here and we can debate if attacking Iran was worth it.We have become the attack dogs of the world. It's time we look into the mirror and ask who the real bad guys are. We have attacked so many nations in my lifetime that we now make Hitler look like a peace loving man.
When we leave Afghanistan, Bush's pals in Pakistan will never do what is right, and we'll get blamed for the certain carnage to follow in Afghanistan.
This might surprise you, but, as a combat vet and having done my tour in Vietnam, it relates still as to who I think 'said it best.' Charlie Sheen. Now, before you laugh your ass off, allow me to explain. In the movie 'Platoon", at the end of the movie when he was in the chopper flying back to base, he was writing a letter to his grandfather. He said in the letter, "Grandfather, it is not these Vietnamese who are our enemy. Our enemy is within ourselves." Think about that.
Absolutely RIGHT.
I'm a Vietnam era veteran, now in early retirement and working p/t at my local VA. From a forward operating area, a lobby desk at the main entrance where all new vets check in, I direct other vets to registration and records and frequently, I orient them to available services. As such, I've become a relative expert on Veterans' Benefits...out of necessity. And believe me, there are plenty of them! In my region (north & central New Jersey) the most significant deficiency I see is a lack of awareness of all that is available. They may get oriented at the time of discharge...they may even be given what I refer to as the "Bible" ('Federal Benefits For Veterans, Dependents & Survivors'-- VA 80-12-01)...but when they hit those lobby doors, they're often clueless.
Upon discharge, the last thing on most young vets' mind is more bureaucratic fed publications and paperwork...they've had enough of that. So all that 'stuff' gets closeted (top shelf ...back & buried in a shoe box type-closeting). Consequently, when much of the detritus of war and remembrance kicks-up, physical, psychic and otherwise, they're usually busy getting on with life. Where was that shoe box?
That's when they encounter me & my Handbook and a thousand others like me...like the DAV or AmVets by phone and social services that direct them to the regional VA. It's an honor to work with these precious guys & gals everyday. They thank me profusely when I hook them up...but I always remind them that it's really them who strengthen me by letting me help. Service doesn't stop when you take off the uniform.
I don't know what kind of sinister crap Bibi has planned, or what Ahmedinejad or Kim Jung Un is going to do. But, I do know we need to re-think our entire foreign policy, we need more veterans in Congress, and we need to stop the corruption on the Hill and stop this nonsense of using our troops for political and persoanl agenda's by the powers that be. Otherwise, we're all going to be in Tent City somewhere asking ourselves, "What just happened?" Ther is no sense of "Duty, Honor, Country" in Washington DeCeit anymore. It's just a den of political iniquity and self-serving twits for the most part. Will we ever fix it ?
BOG OIL owns the planet. Nothing will change until we wean ourselves off of oil.
Bring back the "draft"! Then lets see how much "bravado" exists in threads like this.
Draftees are too much like people who can't be hypnotized because they are defiant. Volunteers are anxious to buy into all the BS. Which ones do you think the politicians prefer ??
Illegal aliens are responsible for 10-15% of all murders yearly in the United States or approximately 2,000-3,000 per year. During the course of the war in Iraq, 4,000 American soldiers were killed. During that same time period, more than 10,000 Americans were murdered by illegal aliens. Are they worth it?
Like so many other important issues, these things are decided up front in the voting booths where the American people cast their ballots, and even long before that based on the political candidates which they support for future office. If democracy is failing here in the U.S., then the majority of the American people only have themselves to blame. I have long believed that our system of democracy is out of date, and the U.S. Constitution needs a major overhaul. But unfortunately very few of the American people seem to agree with me, so I guess the U.S. is just going to limp along the way that it is doing now, until the whole system eventually goes under. I am just glad that I (probably) won't be around to see it happen. It just doesn't seem like anyone can reason with the American people anymore, no matter how bad things get. Who can possibly save the American people from themselves? Not me, I certainly found that out. Have fun, everyone! - Rick Carter
Problem is, who is there to vote for? When there are 2 candidates that you cannot believe anyway. They rarely do what they promise, and then, like in Bush case.. start a war or two.. we have no way to evict congress because the people coming in next are exactly the same. They do anything to get elected. Once they are elected they now have to cater to the Big Business that paid for their campaign.
A common man has no chance of ever being elected to any meaningful office anymore.. look at what Republicans are doing right now to their own party no less?
Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union. "This year, for better or for worse, we felt like he didn't deserve to be on the all-star selection for decisions he made. Hopefully next year he's back on the right track of being a conservative." This is said by one republican about another. Now, as a voter, how can we possibly have any control whatsoever over what they do once in office.
How true your statement plays into todays political system, It is Money that governs America, This was foreseen by The Founding Fathers. I had seen this article some years back and after reading began to see how really corrupt the system has become. For some good reading, " The Missing Thirteenth Amendment " purposed by Thomas Jefferson
When you blame bush, don't forget to blame dems!
Look at John Kerry?
he was against wars after vietnam, he voted against GW1, but when he wanted to be President he became:
John "RAMBO" Kerry
So stop with the dem vs repub crap!and admit our govt screws us every chance they get!
Libs and Tea!
If 'Nam vets try and tell/warn people about John Kerry, they just blow it off and tell us we're off our meds. They'll never listen. And, we're tired of trying to tell them. We deserve him and his kind just for being freakin stupid. We'll never learn. We'll continue to believe the 'suits' instead. And, ignore ourselves. Then, blame the President or something. Pretty pathetic.
Saddam was no saint, he was a dictator, but he was "our" dictator for many years. That is, until BIG OIL learned they couldn't boss him around any more and he became a "problem". He was manipulating his oil prices to the detriment of BIG OIL. It's a fact. BIG OIL suddenly couldn't control him anymore, and it was unacceptable. Just like BIG OIL can't control Iran, and that's unacceptable. Do you see a pattern here?
Oh, and Saddam embarrassed Israel with his SCUDS, so that was the last straw and we had to send our AMERICAN boys to die for BIG OIL and Israel's pride. It's as simple as that. Was it really about freedom? Bwahahahahahah!
It's all about opium in Afghanistan. But, who's going to listen to the veterans ?? Nobody, that's who. We prefer to accept some "mission accomplished" crap.
Iraq War 10-Year Anniversary: 19 March - Done 'In Our Names'!!
After abandoning the main missions, and world help, for why we even sent the military into that region!!
“We are dealing with veterans, not procedures—with their problems, not ours.” —General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration
"If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013
"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln
No Revenues = Still No Sacrifice = That's Called 'Support' For The Troops = DeJa-Vu all over again!!
Only one Government Branch has been working consistently for the Military, their Families and All Veterans: Military and Vets On FLOTUS and SLOTUS, Administration and it's Cabinet, "Best - Ever": "We haven't had this kind of visibility from the White House—ever." Joyce Raezer, military spouse - Dec. 30, 2011", and plenty more of similar since Joyce spoke and also will continue, as will the obstruction as the tepubs continue seeking to privatize the Veterans Administration, the peoples responsibility to those that serve them!
Neither war nor especially the results of, decades to come added to previous decades and wars of, have been paid for as the abandoned, and now forgotten, continues as those sent want in a drawdown to accomplish at least a very small portion of those main missions sent to accomplish!!
USN All Shore '67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam In Country '70-'71
Was it worth it? It could have been, if we were able to do it right, but politics tied our hands so now we just added more fuel to the fire. Fat civilian contractors getting paid 10x-20x the amount of troops to supervise underpaid third world nationals to do the jobs we were already trained for. Rotations limited the motivation to get the job done and constant reinventing of the wheel every time there was command change drove down efficiency.
But, driving through that country and seeing people, children, livestock, living and eating in landfills and then a child runs up, waves and smiles; happy that you have come and thrown out that dictator and gave them opportunity. And you knowing that you possibly saved their father from being executed or their mother being raped and tortured by Saddam's sadistic sons - that was worth it.
In 2007 it was a different animal - the Iraqi's resented us, and felt like they traded Saddam for another evil. US politics tied the military's hands because they were afraid of the ignorant voters and the Iraqi democracy was failing in constant ethnic feuds. Troops knew that it was a lost cause and just skated by, doing the bare minimum to wait out their rotation and stay alive.
So I say, if it was done right and we cut the civilian contractors, politics, and rotations-stayed until the job was done, it would have turned out better than what it did, in less time, less money, and fewer American lives. But what do I know? I was only there and don't wear a suit and tie and live off of Super PACS while I sat in Washington arguing about Mexicans coming to the U.S. to do the jobs capable U.S. citizens, collecting government assistance, have too much sense of pride and entitlement to do, so my credibility is instantly shot (sarcasm). So now, I sit in the U.S. worried that my part time hours changing oil are getting cut in half because the company I work for would rather higher temps than loose a little bit of their billion dollar profit to participate in Obama Care while I try to piece together a degree that has been interrupted by multiple deployments. Just living the American Dream...
All I ask in return!
If you can spend trillions to send the troops to kill, then spend trillions to care for them!
Not to many questions need to be ask?
just ask is the program good or is it bad!
financially and socially sound!
Gee, let's ask Dickless Cheney and Hallaburton!
Wolfowitz, Cheney and Rumsfeld are the icons of the most sickening scumbags our country has ever seen. And, some of us don't even know why? How disgusting is that when you're looking for hope in your fellow Americans ?
Leon Panetta stated:
"To be sure, the cost was high," he said. "But those lives were not lost in vain. They gave birth to an independent, free, and sovereign Iraq."
45,000 dead American Troops, $3 trillion in costs and Iraq is free?? Arguable to say the least.
What a waste in men, resources and time--same with Afganistan; time to rethink this phoney empire/police state and protect Americans in America like controlling guns and stabalizing Mexico.
A friend from Canada who thankfully got out of Afganistan after wasting Canadian lives!! Just plain stupid!!
Quit trying to blame Presidents. Presidents are like Kelley Girls. Temporary hired help. It's all these urchins below them who set the 'scumbag' meter. It's the lifer politicians. It's the crooks who perfect crookedness while they claim they "serve Americans",,, how pathetic we've become. Kill us with drones why don't ya. Oh wait, they already thought of that.
I believe we have the best country on the planet. The best citizens on the planet. The best military on the planet. It's just sad that we have a government we are ashamed of. One that should be mostly ashamed of themselves. If we aren't able to understand that and feel that, then, change will not come quickly enough to head off the next debacle. Or the next three.
For The Lords Of War, Not The Lords Of Flatbush, Over there, It's been Black Friday on a daily basis at Walmart for ten years & still going.
NicholasCage/CheneyHaliburton/GlobalOilGiants/Mirror,Mirror,StarTrek.com
This war was fought on a lie. Bush was looking for any excuse to do what he did. He did not care the cost in American lives or anything else. We are paying the price today and will be for years to come. Does Bush care any about this. My answer is no. He got his pension.
Bush was an incompetent president with a simplistic view of the world. He surrounded himself with advisers who told him what he wanted to hear, not what he needed to hear. The press served as his propaganda outlet and cheerleader while failing to ask the difficult questions. The Senate failed to do its job -- looking more at short term politics rather than long term consequences. And the American people bought into all of it. Thus 10 years and trillions of dollars later, we have tens of thousands of dead and wounded GIs, hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, the Mideast is more unstable, and the US is hated more than ever.
A recent army psychologist killed himself. What I think is we should not pay taxes let them charge everyone in the USA until they pull the soldiers out of the war and bring them home. Money talks. If they don't get their money. They take 100million to court or they can stop the war. They put it on our record or they can stop the war. They can charge a 100million or they can stop the war. Another way is to cut back on all the oil use and all the rediculous spending that makes the wallstreeters happy and who don't give a crap about our soldiers. Another is to send a clear message to congress, if they want our vote they get out of the war now otherwise go work in a fish market. Forget the budget crap, demand they stop the war and then American's will negotiate on the budget, for half of it goes to the Military anyway. They just want to take from SS and medicare to kill more soldiers and continue wars. When will American's wake up and get their heads out of the sand. These congressmans and military industray and wallstreeters are feeding us sleeping pills distracting us from our purpose, that military is for defense and there is nothing over to defend except empty mountains. There purpose is to stay here and clean up America. So, maybe the occupy can start a movement to stop paying taxes. Get a 100million signatures and then Congress will notice their own bills won't be paid. Time to stop
This has got to stop now. NOW NOW NOW. Not 2014. NOW.
If you are a vet don't mention any of the mental issues talked about in this story or Obama through the Veterans Administration will take your right to own a gun. They have already sent letters to amputees and said they must turn in their guns.
sounds like a rumor to me.
It's not.
Didn't our A-hole president say He was going to get the troops out 6 years ago? Yeah He did, another lying pile of crap. He's the most hostile president we have ever had period. He's cut funds for troops, medical, educational, to all active and retired Vet's. Tell me why we should trust a dick weed like him ever. He could ship out now and never be missed. Hey Mr. president please infrom all your treasonous friends as well as yourself you took oaths to defend our Constitution if you can't live up to your oaths remove yourself from office trader...
As far as I know, obama has stuck to his statements about troop withdrawals. If you can find an example otherwise, feel free to post it.
He said during the election in 2008 that was the first thing he was going to do is bring the troops home. Over four years later we are still there.