Veterans: Why we want Trump to keep Iraq withdrawal deal

The election is now behind us and the impacts on America’s foreign policy are emerging. One thing that shouldn’t change is our commitment to the deal reached between the Biden administration and the Iraqi government for a withdrawal of most U.S. forces from Iraq in 2025.

As veterans who served in Iraq, we are urging the new administration to stick to the agreed timetable and see to it that American service members are no longer risking their lives in Iraq.

Ian Robinson, Air Force: Iraq—my first deployment in 2003 feels like a distant memory, yet when I close my eyes, I can vividly picture the sand swirling along the endless road that stretches to the horizon. Sometimes, I can almost feel the scorching heat on my skin; it’s like standing in front of a hairdryer on its highest setting on the hottest day of summer, dusty and dirty. This land has endured a lifetime of conflict and carries a heavy weight of animosity, and our troops still remain stationed there. Iraq is a place where we have never truly belonged, and the most promising path toward future stability may lie in our departure, especially after all the time and money and lives we have spent there.

Laura Hartman, US Army: As a 2004 Iraq War veteran, I’ve seen the toll war takes on warfighters, families, and innocent civilians. War leaves lives shattered, deep moral injuries and genetic conditions that affect generations. After reporting a military sexual assault, I left our FOB only to meet with military lawyers. As a former VA psychiatric nurse, I saw the truth of war unfold through my patients’ pain. Suicide prevention and mental health treatment are shared responsibilities. After decades of lies, bloodshed and betrayal, I support a full withdrawal from Iraq. Focus on nation-building here at home. It's time to demand political accountability for the consequences of war. Enough is enough.

Adam Jahnke, USMC: Iraq is a bitter memory for me. I was injured and lost two friends from my platoon. I served with 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines, an infantry Company, from 2005-2009, I made two deployments to Iraq in 2006, and 2008. This time was the “best” worst time of my life. The lack of sleep, operational tempo, and challenges of a combat deployment were drastic. Everyone to the right and left of me rose to the occasion and fought hard, for each other, the Marine Corps, and our country. However, many of us including myself now feel our sacrifice was for naught. The loss of life and of resources was wasteful. Many of us suffer lifelong issues with PTSD, TBI, and other health conditions related to our deployments, as we are left wondering: "what was our sacrifice in Iraq for."

Brian Fay, Army: I enlisted in the Army in 2007 during the second surge into Iraq, but I didn’t deploy until late 2009. I remember earlier that year watching the news as President Obama signed an agreement to draw down troops and leave only a presence of “non-combat” troops to train and advise. I went to Iraq shortly after, wondering just what our mission would be. We had just spent the last year and half training for urban warfare.

Aside from a few missions we ran with the Iraq Police, there was little advising and assisting being done. For a year we went out every night on missions to prevent IEDs on critical supply routes and reacting to rocket and mortar attacks on our FOB. Every day, during my supposedly “non-combat" tour in Iraq, my life and the lives of the soldiers I was with were put in danger. And for what? The only thing the agreement that President Obama signed with Iraq accomplished was restricting our rules of engagement with the enemy and putting us in further danger. There is no such thing as troops being able to stay in a combat zone and not be in some sort of life-threatening danger every single day.

Maurice Winstead, Navy: My first Mid-East deployment was in 2008, sailing to deliver a battalion of U.S. Marines to their mission location. Prior to reaching our destination we encountered pirates. Several situations were very close calls. Loss is never an easy topic to discuss, but far too many times I’ve seen our troops and sailors put in unnecessary danger. I’ve seen mental health issues like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder afflict former shipmates. This new administration needs to honor the promise that our troops will be out of Iraq in 2025. It’s time.

Jessica Vargas, USMC:I was a 19-year-old food service Marine deployed to Iraq as part of the 2003 invasion. My service quickly shifted, and I was attached to combat engineers, building living quarters for our troops, securing the perimeter, and assisting medics with the injured—a heavy burden for someone so young. Treating the wounded, I confronted the realities of war, witnessing tragic consequences of combat.

At night I heard the prayers of fellow Marines. Not all prayers are answered. My fellow Marine and high school friend, Jesse Jaime, who enlisted alongside me, died when an improvised explosive device struck his unit. His twin brother, also a Marine, accompanied Jesse’s body home.

War echoes still ripple through my life, leaving scars and a profound understanding of the costs of warfare, including post-traumatic stress. Friends have been diagnosed with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and cancers from burn pit exposure. Not just injuries of the flesh, but wounds to mind and spirit, lingering long after the guns have gone silent.

I pray we can bring our troops home from combat zones and give them the quality health care they deserve. The sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families must not have been in vain. It’s time we leave Iraq.

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After September 11, 2001, I was not surprised to find myself headed to Iraq in 2003. I was initially supportive of our role there. I joined the National Guard in 2000 and served as a U.S. Army Infantryman in Iraq in 2004, patrolling in the Sunni Triangle, dealing with Improvised Explosive Devices and seeing friends wounded and killed.

As time passed after the deployment, each year’s Memorial Day and anniversaries of comrades’ passing added up, compounded by post deployment suicides, and I realized the war was a catastrophic failure. Those lives which had so much promise were squandered over a set of lies, lies which so many of us believed. It’s past time to end America’s adventures in Iraq. Arriving from different services and different walks of life, we are united by our common bonds as veterans. These experiences, unique to each of us, create a shared sense of frustration and grief over lost lives, wasted resources and missed opportunities.

Today, 2,500 U.S. service members serve in Iraq, facing constant threats from drones, mortars and rockets. No one has convincingly explained why they’re there.

Another American killed in Iraq will be another wasted life and another round of grief and pain for comrades and families. The Trump administration should complete the 2025 withdrawal of U.S. forces as agreed to by the Iraqi and U.S. governments earlier this year.