"...MORE THAN THEY BARGAINED FOR"
I was listening to a report on the BBC last night (the text of which can be found here) which talked about a burgeoning movement calling for the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The movement calls itself Bring Them Home Now and comprises many military veterans and families of US soldiers. (That its name is similiar to the anti-war protesters' slogan "Support the Troops: Bring Them Home" will hopefully moderate some people's virulence against the 'warmed over 60s hippies')

That the group wants to internationalize the occupation is a welcome change from the attitude of "screw the rest of the world" which gripped American public opinion 6 months ago.
One Vietnam veteran and member of the group fumed, "I'm tired of America's sons and daughters having to do all of the policing of this world."

This comment certainly piqued my interest since America didn't HAVE to police Iraq, it chose to. In fact, it chose to do so not because of international pressure but despite it. And let's not forget, while the government may have made the decision to go to war, this self-imposed "obligation" was wildly popular among the broad American public.

As I've written before, the frustration is due in large point to initial expectations that were unrealistic. Occupation is never a short term deal. Even the post-World War II occupations and re-constructions of Germany and Japan lasted several YEARS. We've only been in Iraq a few months and people are getting impatient. Americans rightly figured winning the war would be quick. They either didn't know or didn't fully comprehend that winning the peace would be substantially more challenging... and more time consuming.

I hope the American people have learned a lesson about getting swept up in a wave of emotion at the expense of foresight. The next time the president decides to invade a random country against international public opinion and with hardly any serious military allies, I'd urge my fellow citizens will pause to fully ponder the long-term implications of that decision.

Concluded one mother, "My son has a job, he has a life - he had a life before he went to Iraq. I think they gotten much more than they bargained for."

Indeed.

But it begs the question, when they joined the military reserves, what exactly DID they bargain for?