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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
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If a person doesn't know who they work for, then, when they get fired they can say to themselves, "Oh yeah, it was that guy." They certainly know it then. Well, fire them all I say, because NONE of them know who they work for. Vote them ALL out. Hope for the best with the next crew. But, do we do that ? No.
I do. I voted in past 10 elections to fire all of'em. But then, I walk around my ranch outside and piss towards Mecca 6 times a day. And, that's when i'm ON my meds. So, maybe it's just me. I find Americans a bit oppressed when they don't have time from the day-to-day survival of our current economic tragedy to really pay attention. With our modern methods of communications and awareness, you'd think they'd get the message.
This is a bit off,....lets compare all previous Presidents spending costs to THIS one's. This TREASONOUS turd must go. And for those of you that love him,.....would you please go, too? I'd like our old country back.
If you're going to spend the money, then, give it back to the American people. Win their hearts and minds for a change. Not to foreign countries who's people hate us. Then, hate us even more when we finally wise up and leave. I can't blame Obama for it. He stepped in there like a virgin in a whorehouse. He's learning tho. Evil will prevails on the Hill it seems.
sounds like a rumor
Good Book!
The US and our Allies were lied to by the Bush Jr Admin. If any one President and VP should have been impeached, it was that one. We've lost far more American and ally lives fighting a war that should have never taken place, than the number of people who died in the attack on 911. Was jr and Cheneys lies worth the staggering looses, mental and physical hardships on soldiers and families? HELL NO it wasn't! There was no real threat. Not like there is right now with N.Korea. Our troops should have been home from all over. It's LOOOOOONG past time as they need a break as I'm afraid they are going to be needed in other places before too long. How sad.
In reference to the article (many of these bizarre posts have little if anything to do with the actual article) I think the takeaway is that you can't throw a civics book off the back of a tank and expect to have 'instant democracy'...
New boss same as the old boss!
obama has won the hearts and minds of his followers.........mindless deadbeats.
What about the 200,000 we killed in Iraq, why is it that we have to go to the EU participants to get some relative facts about the so called "enemy" dead---I mean we cry about gun killing children in Newtown----, for a 3 year period we killed that many civilian children in Iraq every day for a total of 175,000 civilians--rest assured many EU countries are not happy about that fighting to steal the Iraq oil for USA benefit and then claim it was because of Sadam and other fraudulent issues (Yes he was a bad guy, killing his people but why is that our business?) now we have finally been called out by UN about this killing with drones in AFGHANISTAN--and we always say how we(US) did Iraq, ---a small country like Denmark, had more percentage of its population fighting in Iraq than USA had--TRY TO SHOW ALL THE FACTS HERE IN THE NEWS WILL YOU.
Only thing worse than being a veteran of Iraq would be being a citizen of Iraq.. talk about bloody hell....
Was it worth it?
In a word, no.
Weigh what was gained over what was lost. Only thing we gained was a tremendous amount of debt that will take decades to pay back.
Hagel looks like he just got out of boot camp for Ghostbusters. Poor guy dont know wtf to do. Kerry keeps me laughing more than Bush's monkey faces, and they're going to get around to asking vets about Iraq ? Hell, ask them about the Karzai Drug Cartel. Ask what we can do in looking ahead. If we were at all good about learning from our mistakes, Iraq and Afghanistan would have never happened. Ask the vets how we get it right ! Don't ask the 'suits.' Maybe they're onto something.
Iraq war was a waste of American lives and American tax dollars. And for nothing.
Just like Vietnam.
Blow some cry baby smoke up another bunghole where is any hint of any "negative" consequence from Obozo and his happy trigger finger? I do not feel sorry for any grown man who joined now buck up chuck rock n roll.
god bless all the men and women that gave there time for freedom.Thank you for your service
Glad to see there finally calling it a Invasion ! and not a war for Freedom ! I'm not sure what Bush really saw in this as he mislead the country !!!
I really like Chuck Hagel because he's a nice guy and looks out for folks in Nebraska. But, I'm afraid they're going to use and abuse him up there on the Hill looks like. Obama has changed. I don't think he's trying to get anything right, I think he's trying to get and keep a lid on things and really dont know wtf to do either.
This country will NEVER win another war. Our non-military serving congressman run them.
Our TRUE General's hands are tied and the PC generals are power driven.
These forever, money-pit wars run by politicians, (not by the military) will destroy this country.
Fuk, I hate politicians.
None of us can press rewind. Need to look to the future and learn from the past. Has it been worth it ? Of course not. Let's not fool ourselves. We have the media for that. Let's look to the future and get it right. It's only been a few hundred years.
We can't undo what's been done but I sure hope we learned something from our mistakes.
We should have learned from Vietnam
This was written just like the articles aboud Viet Nam. First, nobody can predict suicides, they may have happened anyway. Second a soldier signs up, just like I did, you know the risks. In Nam there were conscripts, today none. No excuses. Lastly suppose we "valued" war and losses like this in WW2 or WW1? We lost more men on D Day than all of Iraq. Did anyone do a study on the effects? Like my dad said (and he was there) "We all felt terror, we were all afraid, we all lived with it, life goes on". Much later in life he became a company president, he died, at age 76, from old war wounds. Still, he kicked Hitler in the ass and was proud of it. To the writer of this article, I say, Shaddup.
The difference is that Hitler was a threat, Iraq wasn't.
And we should be thankful that Hitler ran the war and military after the fall of France, The Germans did well in the beggining because he let the Generals, run it...after that he was running the whole show, and we see where that came out.. If you are into history get the documentary, "how hitler lost the war".
If these vets don't know the answer to "was it worth it?", they are frickin idiots!
Wow. Bush took us into war based on fabrications, lies. And now all of a sudden it's Obama's fault?
BS. I don't think it was Obama and Biden making countless millions from their involvement with Haliburton.
And was it our responsibility to make Iraq a soveriegn nation, if indeed that is what it is today?
I could go on, but those who can think for themselves can see the truth. Everyone else will remain delusional.
No, but IRAN thinks it was worth it.
Ten years ago Dubyah gave Sadam the 'either/or' and was it worth it.....NO, of course not!!! A war under falsehood created by 'our dictator' George Dubyah. The only reason we went to war with Iraq is because Sadam made an 'ass' out of George H. Bush............this was for revenge only by our former dictator George Dubyah!
We did not invade Iraq to search for WMD's. We invaded Iraq because the Iraqi government refused to allow weapons inspectors to enter certain facilities. They were warned, several times, before the invasion began. Oh, and Iraq most definitely had WMD's before the invasion. Remember, they gassed the Kurds. Attacking Iraq was unavoidable, once they refused the weapons inspectors. Our futile, and extremely costly, attempt at nation building was a mistake. In the future, we should strike, destroy the designated targets, then leave a note saying "Don't make us come back here again."
But Cheney said we were librating the people of Iraq lmao
You are both wrong, It was not about the weapons inspectors in the least. It wasn't about WMDs in the least. You swallowed the lies about Saddam used Gas on his own people. That footage was taken after a gas attack by Iran on Iraq, ten or so years before. You were shown two pieces of pipe laying in the sand and told that those were tp build a Cyclotron. Do you know how big a cyclotron is, it takes up acreage. The government wanted to stop Al Qaeda from crossing the southwest border of Iraq and escaping, but they had to totally cross Iran to get there. Check your maps. Most people don't even know where their state is located in the US now a days. 99.9% of the people believed the Bush/Cheney Properganda Machine. I can count on one hand people I know that didn't believe this was a lie and still a finger left over. Now the 99.9% is trying to say they didn't believe the Properganda, my Butt! You still have egg on your face and you don't fool me one Iota.