War is Over (if you want it)

So our costly misadventure in Iraq is over at last. Combat troops have crossed over into Kuwait and we are keeping troops there to act as advisors and trainers despite the fact that there still isn't a cohesive government in that country. I haven't a clue as to what's going to happen there and whether a renewed insurgency will arise in the vacuum of US combat troops leaving the country, but it's good that we can finally leave this sad misadventure that was launched by Dubya mainly to try to resolve some sort of familial thing between him and his father that had little, if anything, to do with WMDs that were never there in the first place. Sadly, it cost Gen. Colin Powell his stirling reputation and he's pretty much kept a low profile ever since, remaining silent since his endorsement of Barack Obama as President. I hope we've learned our lesson to never again launch a pre-emptive war against a country that did nothing whatsoever to harm us. The whole misadventure has been costly, ugly and politically divisive and in the end, did more harm than good. It tarnished our country's international reputation, it divided our country, it cost untold billions of dollars, some of which disappeared, unaccounted for, into unknown hands, it damaged the cradle of civilization and cost that country its museum treasures, some of which will never again be found after their museums were looted, and it left an embittered populace, some of whom still do not have running water and electricity 24 hours a day. We destroyed a fragile country and left them without basic infrastructure in some parts of it and divided its populace between Shiite, Sunni and Kurd, everyone fighting for some fragment of control of the country. It was a sad chapter in our country's history that must serve as a lesson to future generations that there are some things that just are not worth fighting for and there is never, ever a reason to fight a pre-emptive war against a country that did nothing to harm us. This was a war whose lessons must never be forgotten. Sadly, though, Americans have a notoriously short memory, and this war echoed bitter memories of another failed American misadventure in a foreign country, Vietnam. I hope that this war isn't considered a victory for America, but is rather viewed through the lens of yet another poor choice by the American government to fight a war that never needed fighting in the first place. So long, Iraq, and may you someday find your way to becoming a peaceful nation that can function on its own and find resolution between all your warring parties and religious factions.