Seven years of U.S. war in Iraq ...

There were "shock and awe" when massive United States aerial attacks struck Iraq at 9:30 p.m. on March 19, 2003, U.S. Eastern Standard Time -- seven years ago today! (It was 5:30 a.m. on March 20, 2003, in Iraq.)

Today, how many Americans remember why we went to war in Iraq?

Saddam Hussein was the dictatorial ruler of Iraq. He had been defying the world. It was feared that he possessed, or was close to manufacturing, "weapons of mass destruction" -- including nuclear weapons! (WMD was the familiar abbreviation used in the many international expressions of concern at that time.)

What if Saddam Hussein had actually possessed -- and used or just threatened to use -- nuclear weapons on his neighbors and others?

That was a possibility so terrible that it prompted the United States and several other nations to join in launching the Iraq War.

The U.S. aerial attacks on Iraq were quickly followed by naval and land military action. Massive American ground forces under air cover quickly swept across Iraq, defeated Saddam's forces and won victory with few American casualties!

No Iraqi nuclear weapons were found.

Had Saddam possessed them, but hidden them, or rushed them into Syria? Or did he never have nuclear weapons? Had he only been bluffing?

He did have very dangerous chemical and conventional weapons -- and had used them upon some of his own people and threatened his neighbors.

Saddam fled. But he soon was found, hiding in a hole in the ground.

Three years later, he was tried, found guilty of war crimes and the deaths of many, and executed.

But the Iraq War unfortunately did not end.

Numerous Iraqi elements resorted to extensive guerrilla warfare -- which continues.

The Iraq War has caused nearly 4,400 U.S. military deaths over the past seven years. Nearly 32,000 other Americans have been wounded.

More than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed.

The financial cost of the Iraq War has exceeded $700 billion, so far, with the total expected to be $900 billion by September.

There are about 97,000 American military individuals in Iraq today.

President Barack Obama has indicated he will begin withdrawing U.S. troops by August, leaving only 30,000 to 50,000 American soldiers to advise Iraqi military forces -- with all Americans to be withdrawn by December 2011.

Will that timetable be followed? If so, what then?

Will Iraqis be able to maintain security against al-Qaida and other dissident elements? Will guerrilla warfare continue, with frequent bombings slaughtering scores of innocent Iraqi civilians? Or will peace prevail?

Many such questions are unanswerable as the United States begins our eighth year of engagement in the Iraq War.

Many hope all American involvement in Iraq can end next year -- with an end to U.S. and Iraqi casualties, with peace prevailing.

But today, as we begin another year of American involvement in the Iraq War, there are no assurances.

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