On November 24, Corey Shea, soldier in the United States Army and native of Mansfield, Massachusetts, was laid to rest. Shea was killed in Mosul, Iraq on November 12th. About a week or so before the Boston Herald published their article on his funeral, I received a phone call from an emotionally distraught friend asking for another friend’s phone number. When I asked him what was wrong he simply stated: “Corey Shea was shot in the head”.?I didn’t know Corey Shea personally; We were both from Mansfield but he was 3 years younger than me. Some good friends of mine knew him and I remembered their mentioning his name in passing or as part of anecdotes. But suddenly having someone from my hometown killed overseas in Iraq brings the situation close to home. But this isn’t just some kid killed in the line of duty, this is a situation that marks this whole debacle: a complete failure. ?

The situation became much worse when the Herald reported that he was killed when a uniformed Iraqi soldier walked up to him and another soldier and opened fire on them. Let me say it again: an Iraqi soldier (the guys who we are training and are supposed to be on our side) walked up to one of our soldiers and shot him in the head. This is the final nail in the casket, when we can longer even trust the soldiers we are fighting with. It’s time to leave. If we are at a point where we are fighting militias, disgruntled citizens, and the Iraqi army then we have no allies over there. Don’t even mention the Iraqi government. Their control barely extends as far as the areas the U.S. military controls.?

It’s time to face the facts that if a democratic government cannot flourish in Iraq now (we are ostensibly only providing security for certain parts of the government, all other functions of their legislature including voting is up to them to carry out now) it never will. Don’t accuse me of being a quitter or cutting and running, because what would we be cutting and running from? A countrywide civil war between different ethnic, religious, and economic groups. Now is the time for the Iraqi government to sink or swim. They want us to leave? Then let’s leave, let’s pack up right now and take everything we brought with us and watch them flounder then fall to a segmented landscape ruled by warlords and militias. Oil? We don’t even need oil from them, the vast amount of our oil comes from Saudi Arabia or Canada. America never got much oil from Iraq and we don’t need to start getting it now.?

America has spent trillions of dollars and thousands of lives in Iraq and all we as a country have to show for it is increased global animosity and a recession that could blossom in a full grown depression any day now.? For those who will say I’m being callous towards the people of Iraq, I’d like to point out that it’s up to the people of Iraq to establish and maintain their own government – and even their own people don’t seem to be behind it. There are numerous reports of Iraqi soldiers saying that they joined the army or the police force not out of love for their country or a sense of duty, but for the paycheck. They are no better than mercenaries. Iraq is and was a failure. The decision to invade should have gotten the President impeached, and there is no way history can ever look favorably on this event. But the most damning evidence of all is when the army we trained to protect this new nation, and have worked side by side with to ensure their security, simple walks up to members of our military and kills them. I say let’s leave Iraq like they want us to do, and watch them take care of themselves as they want.