Marshall’s Blog | Crazy Mormon Lib

I can’t say how happy I am that today the U.S. officially began it’s withdrawal from Iraq. Most Iraqis celebrated, which was to be expected. A very small number of people got violent, which was also to be expected. My prayers go out to the families of the Iraqis and Americans who died today.

The possibility of continued violence is often cited as a reason not to withdraw. The British made the same arguments about nearly every colonial interest they had. I’m sure there will be more violence to follow in Iraq, but it won’t change the fact that withdrawing is the right thing to do. In the next year we will need to watch Iraq and the Obama Administration with a close eye to ensure that we withdraw completely and do not leave behind significant numbers of U.S. troops or any permanent U.S. military bases. Still, this is a day that I’ve been working toward for so long. It seems surreal.

With the amount of hard work that remains, it’s hard for me to feel ecstatic about the largely symbolic transfer of authority today. Still, I feel relieved. I feel like I can breathe a little easier and hold my head a bit higher. I feel like America is getting back on the right path after nearly a decade of trugding through a dark and virulent mist.

The task now is two-fold: 1) Ensure the withdrawal continues uncompromised. 2) Hold accountable the people who instituted and initiated illegal war, torture, and indefinite detention.