Three years later, as the anniversary of Baghdad's fall is commemorated
as "Iraqi Freedom Day," troops serving in Iraq say they're proud of
what it paved the way for throughout the country.
Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin McCoy remembers the hectic days of the
coalition advance into Baghdad, when he served as an intelligence
noncommissioned officer for the 3rd Infantry Division. "You hardly had time to
breathe," he said from Camp Victory, Iraq, where he now serves in
Multinational Corps Iraq's space operations cell.
McCoy recalled the celebrations as Baghdad fell from Saddam's grip and
said he's glad he and his fellow troops helped bring it about. "The
world is a better place without him," McCoy said. "It's something I was
proud of and I'll always keep in my mind, that I played a part in it --
not just then, but again, for a second time."
Army Lt. Col. Thomas Murphree, who was serving in Kuwait at the time as
theater distribution commander, said seeing images of Iraqis pulling
down Saddam's statue in Baghdad assured him, "They didn't like him or his
regime."
"We did the right thing then, and we're still doing the right thing,"
said Murphree, who returned to Camp Victory, Iraq, in January as deputy
transportation officer for Multinational Corps Iraq.
Army Sgt. Maj. Linda Allen, serving in Multinational Corps Iraq's
Coalition Analysis and Control Element, remembers how surprised she was by
the speed of the coalition advance into Baghdad in 2003. Working from
Camp Virginia in Kuwait, Allen was part of the intelligence group
supporting U.S. 5th Corps and said everyone was bracing for a major fight that
never came.
While seeing images of Saddam's statue being toppled in Baghdad "was
pretty exciting," Allen said she and other troops in the theater
recognized their work in Iraq was far from over. "It represented the end of the
conventional war, which meant we could now concentrate on the
longer-term part of what we still had to do," she said.
The soldiers agreed that life has improved for the Iraqi people and
continues to get better as they increasingly take the lead in their
country's security and rebuild it, working together with the U. S. and
coalition. Iraq is forming a unity government, its economy is recovering
after 30 years of dictatorship and lack of infrastructure maintenance, and
more than 241,700 Iraqi security forces are now trained and equipped.
"Life is a hell of a lot better today for us and for the Iraqis,"
Murphree said.
The soldiers noted the contrast between how most Iraqis live today and
what they witnessed when they entered Iraq in 2003. "When we were first
here, you could see that it's a very poor country and it was a hard
place to live," McCoy said. "Now it's a whole lot better."
Allen remembers the shock she experienced rolling into Iraq from Kuwait
in late April. "I remember how devastating it was coming up to Iraq and
running across the civilians," she said. "They were hungry. They had no
place to live and no water to drink. Every child we passed was
motioning to their mouth because they were hungry."
"That's why we're here," she said. "We're here to help these people
have a better way of life."
The soldiers say they're witnessing evidence of that better life
throughout the country. "You see a lot of new buildings going up and police
stations being built and improvements in the health-care system," said
McCoy.
"It's getting better day by day," agreed Murphree. "But it doesn't all
happen overnight."
Just as the rebuilding process after Hurricane Katrina is moving along
more slowly than hoped in Murphree's hometown along the U.S. Gulf
Coast, he said it's going to take longer than people would like in Iraq too.
Unlike southern Mississippi, Iraq has older technology that was
neglected throughout Saddam's regime, he said.
"We're working with 20 years of neglect, so it's going to take some
time, but it's definitely improving," he said.
Since liberating Iraq, the United States has helped the Iraqis build or
repair aging sewage treatment plans for 5.1 million Iraqis and funded
projects that have improved access to clean water for 3.1 million
people.
These infrastructure improvements are important to assuring that Iraqis
have the basics that Americans take for granted - "a job, the ability
to take care of their families and have a roof over their head and a
safe place to live," Murphree said. And he said it's also a critical
component to establishing a new, democratic government in Iraq.
McCoy said he was encouraged that nearly 11.9 million Iraqis,
three-quarters of the country's population, turned out for the parliamentary
elections in December. Since June 2004, when the coalition transferred
sovereignty, the Iraqi people elected an interim government, drafted and
ratified a constitution and elected a four-year, constitutionally based
government.
"It's good to see people getting involved in their government and their
future," McCoy said. "I think it's great," agreed Murphree. "We're
giving them the opportunity they want."
Just as during the fall of Baghdad, Allen said she still recognizes
that the U. S. has much left to accomplish before its mission in Iraq is
finished.
"There's still a ton of work to do, and we're not leaving anytime
soon," she said. "But there's a lot of progress and it's a whole lot better
than it was three years ago."
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