The greatest military victories of my generation were achieved though the empowerment of freedom loving people. On this, Armed Forces Day we have our leadership and our military to thank for this and for the real mission accomplishment and New Dawn in Iraq.
CPT Koby J. Langley on road to Fallujah, one month before declaration of "Mission Accomplished"
It was also eight years ago this month that the former Commander-In-Chief made a victorious proclamation. I was sleeping in a make shift tent from a poncho in the middle of Iraq, and I knew that he was wrong. It would not be us to declare victory, but the Iraqi people. Victory would not come that day, or that year — we would be lucky if it occurred that decade.
Most importantly, it was not up to us alone to declare victory inIraq– in situations like the ones we found ourselves in May of 2003, it rarely ever is. Often times the best we can do is sow the seeds of victory, and then dodge the flying shoes while freedom takes root.
As a brief example, in 2008, the World listened as a nation at war within fought for free and fair elections inIran. The Iranian people laid the foundation for leveraging the power of free speech and the internet in ways that the world had not seen before. An enemy who vowed the destruction of another free nation was brought to its knees from within by the unchained power of youth in revolt, armed only with cell phones, computers and a Facebook page – empowered from within.
Fast forward three years, and Lybia is harvesting those lithium seeds of freedom, andSyriais looking across the Gulf to her sister inAfrica and asking what about me? Democracy by the people cannot be denied.
And as Syria looks across the Gulf at her sister inAfrica, we are reminded that this is a continent to continue it’s fight for new energy victory and natural resource independence. We saw Nigera reap the rewards of their own investments in natural resources, leveraging the entire continent to do so with the Organization of African Unity that was supported and championed by President Carter so many years ago. He sowed those seeds over thirty years ago.
I imagine that no one can dictate the future of Iran, nor the future of Egypt or of Lybia orSyria… butAmericahas always supported the struggles for freedom loving people … whether the chains echo in long and dark hallways of oppression, or in the dimly lit streets of dictatorship.
It was, ultimately this approach that allowed over 100,000 troops to return from the belly of Babel in Iraq and into the arms of their waiting loved ones here at home. It was the relentless dedication to the mission of empowering the Iraqi people that allowed the Iraqi people to hold free and fair elections. When all seemed lost, it was General Petraeus who reminded us all that we needed only meet the Iraqi people at their doorsteps, and they would take their own countrymen across the threshold.
So on Armed Force Day, and seven years from a fateful speech on victory, we must say thank you to the securers of the real victory – the one that has brought us this far. Thank you to Secretary Gates — he was, by many measures, the greatest Secretary of Defense of our generation. Thank you to General Petraeus, we are lucky to have him. Thank you to our Commander in Chief, President Obama and Mrs. Obama, who have brought renewed focus to those whom have given the most – our military families. Above all, thank you to the men and women who brought Iraqto her New Dawn – mission accomplished.
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