It is worth a moment to pause and be grateful that our war in Iraq is officially over.
It looks like our objectives were met. We drove al Qaeda out if Iraq. We overthrew the dictator, Saddam Hussein. We satisfied ourselves that they would not threaten the world with nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. And we kept the country together long enough for it to establish some form of representative government that has a chance of being able to keep relative peace in the country and stand on its own internationally.
I wish the people of Iraq the best of luck as they stumble along the path of democracy. I hope that they present an inspiration to surrounding Muslim nations. And, most of all, I strongly desire that they do not become the home of terrorist threats to the U.S. and the West.
I know that the Middle East has huge problems ahead, and the tangle of forces make things very complicated there, but this is a day to be grateful and hopeful.
Good luck to them and to all of us.
