It’s finally over. The President has just announced that all American troops will be coming out from Iraq by the end of 2011.
We can finally declare “Mission Accomplished” in our collective efforts to end nearly a decade of war.
The pressure from you, our supporters, and from peace activists around the country helped make this decision final despite pressure from the Pentagon to keep a large number of troops in Iraq.
Thank you all so much for your voices and your activism on the issue.
With this success, we will have another reason to celebrate over the holidays.
But there are still 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan.
Over 6,200 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in the last decade plus more than 45,000 wounded, with about the same number evacuated with injuries or disease.
The total cost for a decade of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq exceeds $4 trillion, including the long-term care for thousands of veterans who will badly need it.
We now will have to work even harder to bring all U.S. troops home from Afghanistan as well as Iraq so that we can put these misadventures behind us.
Let’s take the time to celebrate this important victory, but not lose sight of the important work left to do.
