History to decide value in quitting combat in Iraq

SALT LAKE CITY — For seven years and five months, Americans have watched what felt like endless stories of combat in Iraq. We lost loved ones. Saddam Hussein was deposed and hanged. Schools and infrastructure were built or rebuilt. Elections have taken place.

And then, Tuesday night, President Barack Obama said, "So tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country."

That decision could mean a big step for the Babylon of the Old Testament, or it could be more of the same for what has been years of instability.

It's going to take time to figure out what it means.

"I just don't want it to have been for nothing," said Julie Cawley Hanson, of Salt Lake City.

The war was 10 days old when it claimed the life of Hanson's brother, Marine Staff Sgt. James Wilford Cawley, who was the first Utahn killed in Iraq once the war was officially under way.

Cawley was killed outside the small town of Al Fajid, Iraq, after being hit by a Humvee.

Iraq still seems to be a dangerous, fragile place, Hanson said following Obama's speech.

"The reality is the reason we're pulling out now is not because Iraq is ready," Hanson said, adding that she has been encouraged by stories of Iraqis who are getting electricity and garbage collection for the first time. "We're pulling out now because of deadlines (Obama) promised in a campaign speech."

It just seems too early to pull out combat troops, she said.

"To turn it over to this fledgling government, I just think it's the wrong thing," she said.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Sidney K. Cardon, of Salem, said the overall effect of troops' work in Iraq remains to be seen.

"I don't know what the end result will be — history books will probably write about it hundreds of years from now," said Cardon, who served in Iraq during 2004-05 as part of the Utah National Guard's 115th Engineer Group.

While listening to President Obama's speech Tuesday, Cardon found himself nodding assent to the overarching themes the Commander in Chief conveyed.