It's been five years and 4,000 American lives since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. Tomorrow at 11:30, there will be a gathering on the library roof where students can reflect on this sobering milestone and take part in a moderated discussion.
The great majority of Tufts graduates will not serve in the armed forces or be asked to sacrifice their lives for their country. But, as citizens of this or any country, we should reflect on this milestone not only to protest the war but also to accept responsibility for it.
Yes, responsibility.
With columnists and pundits scrambling to qualify and distance themselves from their previous pro-war positions and with the invasion of Iraq widely denounced in homes across the country, it's important to realize that we were not, for the most part, led here against our will. Why did our elected officials feel comfortable with, and often obligated to, vote to approve the war? Why did polls indicate that the majority of Americans supported the invasion of Iraq?
And yes, it's easy to say we were misled by the Bush administration. They did, after all, exaggerate the danger posed by Saddam Hussein, fabricate evidence to justify the invasion and downplay the possible negative consequences of going to war. They deserve the majority of the blame for the lives lost and the damage done to America's economy and standing in the eyes of the international community. But if we were misled, it's because to some degree, we allowed ourselves to be.
The press - now widely denouncing the war - did not question the justifications they were given for the invasion forcefully or publicly enough. Many news outlets were noticeably pro-war and trumpeted the benefits of overthrowing Saddam while ignoring the risks inherent in invading a sovereign country in a highly volatile region.
Elected officials na'vely believed the Bush administration's claims that we would be greeted as "liberators" and accepted their highly questionable claims about the dangers posed by Saddam's regime without adequately considering the costs, both human and monetary, of an invasion. They voted to approve the war even though the justifications they were given conflicted with historical precedent and common sense. Quite simply, they should have known better.
And we the public accepted what we were told without questioning it forcefully enough. It is easy to join in with the voices now criticizing the war and backtracking on their original positions because the alternative - admitting that we were wrong, that we let ourselves be misled - is hard. The war in Iraq was, frankly, a war of choice. We chose it; we chose wrong. When so many lives are on the line, as this grim anniversary proves they were, we all have to do better.
But in light of efforts and sacrifices made by our servicemen and women, let's at least do this for them: Let's admit that mistakes were made, by our government, by our media, by ourselves.
And yes, hindsight is 20/20. So let's use it and make sure we don't get to a place like this again.
