2 Utah veterans reflect on war, say U.S. was right to invade Iraq

A year into the conflict in Iraq, two Utah servicemen agree that the United States did the right thing. But one worries that the prolonged conflict will deter fellow citizen-soldiers.

The Deseret Morning News talked with a member of the Utah Army National Guard who returned from Iraq shortly before Christmas and an Army Reserve member who helped train other soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo.

"Overall, I think that we have done the right thing," said Sgt. 1st Class Tim Woodbrey, Magna. A member of the Guard's 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion, he served 11 months in the Middle East before doctors sent him home for an operation on a pre-existing tendon problem. He was interviewed by telephone on Thursday.

Although no large caches of weapons of mass destruction have been uncovered in Iraq, and prewar intelligence may have been wrong, it still is best that Saddam Hussein was removed from power, he said.

"That way, he would not be able to pursue the acquisition of those weapons. And if he were left in power, there's no doubt in my mind that he would have acquired those weapons and sold them to terrorist organizations."

Woodbrey does not believe the United States is bogged down in Iraq. It's just going to take some time to get a new Iraqi government on track, he said.

The United States could be out of that country within a couple of years "if we stay the course that we are on now. . . . It's just going to take a lot of time and patience."

Most Iraqis were in favor of overthrowing Saddam's regime, he said. "But I think they're getting a little tired of the occupation.

"The initial objective of the U.S. and of the coalition was not to be occupiers, but was to be liberators."

But because of terrorist attacks, not only against coalition forces but also civilians and nonmilitary targets, "we have become an occupying force, which is an unfortunate thing," he said.

Woodbrey has advice about how to help America's image among the Iraqis: "Keep providing humanitarian service to them, help them to build up the infrastructure, and show a kinder side."

Meanwhile, he is concerned about the role of citizen-soldiers such as himself. About 40 percent of the American military force in Iraq is made up of National Guard and Reserve members, "and that's quite a large number."

Woodbrey worries that the long engagement by the Guard and Reserves is causing enlistments to drop.