I think everybody had that moment when they realized the Iraq War was actually going to happen––that 'oh my god' moment when it became clear that the UN proceedings would terminate, the Congress would vote, and the tan-colored troops in tan-colored tanks would sweep across the desert.
When it finally happened, even the most vicious pundits stopped arguing and wondered about the future: Would they greet us with flowers or anthrax? Would we lose 10 troops or 10,000 troops? Would it cost $50 billion of $500 billion. How long would it last? Where would Saddam be? What would the WMDs look like if we found them?
I came across this photo essay of the war, which took me back to my sophomore year of high school. Looking at the images, some of which I hadn't seen in five years, I was surprised to feel not the anger I feel now, but the hope and awe I felt back then, when I believed our fantastic weapons and healthy soldiers were invincible and our representative government incapable of making such big mistakes. I'd like to think I was more cynical back then. I don't remember actually believing the administration's pre-war rhetoric, but I must not have disbelieved it either. I didn't and still don't think I had access to the information which would have swayed me one way or the other and I'm certain this was deliberate on somebody's part. Even so, now that 25% of my life has been lived under this war, I increasingly regret that I didn't try harder to understand what was happening and to determine for myself whether it was right or wrong.
What do they bring to mind for you?: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4227
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Did you watch on NBC/ CBS the progress of the troops across the radiating map of Iraq? That's the image I remember most: how the whole world could trace the movements of the American troops across a digital diagram but no one did anything to stop them (except the Iraqi troops who fought in return). In what other point in history could we do that? This is most simultaneously enacted and documented war in the history of the world, yet it is one of the most undefinable.
Did you really feel awe in the face of such progression? I hesitate to call it progress. My first thought was, and will remain, "Well shit, we're fucked."
You know, that was something I forgot to mention. The beautiful, colorful, computer-generated maps made it look so simple––the big red arrows would just go to Baghdad and that would be it and the stealth bombers would knock out the radar here and here (cue animation). Now that I think of it, it reminds me of watching WWII documentaries on the History Channel, where they'd show you the map of Europe or the Pacific and then the advance of the Axis armies. And even though we had Dan Rather racing through the desert in combat fatigues, there was still the fog of war. It speaks to one of the lessons that people have been harping on from day one––that our technology in many ways led to simplification, bias, and overconfidence.
I really did feel awe, which is not to say I didn't feel doubt too. The beginning of the war was a deliberate pyrotechnic display, carried out by––in many cases––billion-dollar, high-altitude, stealth aircraft based in Missouri, carrying laser-guided missiles. How is that not amazing? I remember they shot down at least two F-117s, but even so it was a spectacular display of technical military dominance. Plus, they kept on saying how our precision weaponry enabled us to minimize casualties on both sides––talk about speaking too soon.
Far be it from me to point out errors in your post.
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