Iraq: There’s more at stake than just public opinion Published Oct. 1, 2007 By Tech. Sgt. Dale Yates 90th Space Wing Public Affairs F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. -- While politicians and pundits bicker inconsistently about whether America should be involved in Iraq, they often fail to acknowledge one fact: We are. It's undeniable. Accept it. So what are we, as a country, going to do about it? Maybe we should exclaim, "Our bad! Sorry we destroyed your country's infrastructure. We'll just be going now. Good luck." Or maybe we should accept the decision that got us here -- whether it was right or wrong is moot -- and realize it's now our responsibility to see this through. During such debates, several commentators have spent countless hours comparing Saddam Hussein with Adolph Hitler. How about comparing Iraq with Germany? Pre-World War II Germany saw war repeatedly. It wasn't just Germany. The entire continent fought. Every tiny country hated almost every other country, and at times, kings would rather assassinate other kings than to peacefully negotiate. Sounds a lot like Southwest Asia. The main difference is that in Southwest Asia they would rather nuke each other or detonate a car bomb near a crowded market. The reasons are the same: They just don't like each other. Look at Germany now. It's peaceful. For the first time, it has gone 62 years without exploding into full-scale war. Today, only the senior citizens know what it's like to live with war on their country's soil. That is the greatest success story on human determination to make the world a better place. Ask almost any German senior citizen what led to that success and the answer will be a unanimous "American presence." After World War I, allied forces left a defeated Germany to fix its own problems. In less than 21 years, war exploded again with death tolls that made "The Great War" appear like a mild skirmish. The end of World War II was different. This time, America realized its previous folly and stayed in Germany to help rebuild both infrastructure and government. Not everyone in America agreed with that policy, and most likely, some still disagree. However, that doesn't change the fact that during the war America participated in campaigns that decimated entire German cities. But America didn't bail. We didn't turn away from our responsibility after that war, and Germany is undeniably a better place for it. Now America is faced with a similar circumstance in Iraq. As a country, we do not have a collective parent to stare us down and emphatically state, "It's your mess; clean it up." But that doesn't lessen our responsibility to the people of Iraq.