The call to war came March 19, 2003, at 8:16 a.m. MST from President Bush.
“My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger,” the president said.
“Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force,” Bush said. “And I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures, and we will accept no outcome but victory.”
About six weeks later, Bush, standing before a huge banner claiming “Mission Accomplished,” said major combat operations were over in Iraq.
But now it's five years later. Victory is a word that's not often used in connection with Iraq.
Of the American soldiers who've died there, more than 95 percent have been killed since “major combat operations” ended.
As of this week, 1,261 Montanans have served in Iraq. Seven different units of the Montana National Guard have been deployed to Iraq and returned home. Montanans were there when it started, and they are there still, with about 40 soldiers from Montana currently serving with military units from other states.
Twenty-two of this state's soldiers have not come home. The first was Edward Matthew Saltz, a 27-year-old Army soldier from Bigfork who died on Dec. 22, 2003.
But most soldiers returned to Montana joyously, received as heroes in their communities. Some turned around a year later and went back for another tour.
“We have been incredibly supported by the Montana public, especially in our local community, ” Army Sgt. Adam McElderry said in March 2006.
Even so, Montanans, like other Americans, have voiced displeasure at the lingering war. Last fall, three cities including Missoula passed resolutions calling for an end to the war in Iraq.
Yet, Americans continue to die each week.
As of Tuesday, 3,991 Americans have died in the war. About 85,000 Iraqi civilians have died over the same period, according to the Web site Iraq Body Count.
Missoula's Andrew Bedard, a 19-year-old Marine, died in early October 2005. He was a good boy, a loved only son, a young man who wanted to help.
“It'll be all right,” he told his dad, Denny, before he left.
Bedard, like his fellow soldiers, felt a passion for what he was doing. His father feels that passion even more strongly now. And yet Andrew was also afraid, aghast at the randomness of the violence.
They all have their stories, some golden and happy, the rich camaraderie, the good times spent together. Those always get told.
“We played a lot of Xbox and PlayStation over there,” Army Sgt. Ed Krause told the Missoulian in March 2005.
And there are the really good things, the building of schools, seeing Iraqis vote, restoring order in lawless areas.
“There are a lot of good things happening over there,” Krause said.
Those stories are needed to balance out the things that go unsaid.
“There are things I don't tell my wife,” Brad Hutchison said in November 2006 after he came home from war. “I saw things I'm not going to talk about.”
In this newspaper's library, the stories alternate, a returning unit received by flag-waving Montanans standing along the road one day, a funeral the next.
One soldier tells a story of the wonders of democracy bestowed on Iraq. But the next explains how his own government can't seem to get his veteran's benefits flowing smoothly.
On the national front, a major administration official appears in Iraq to intone the dramatic effect the latest “surge” has had in beating back the insurgency.
The next day someone with a bomb strapped around his waist kills 40 more people.
And so it goes.
In October 2005, Army Adj Gen. Randy Mosley spoke at the funeral of Travis Arndt, a Great Falls soldier who died in September of that year.
“Today we bury a fallen soldier, and I grieve as though he was my own,” Mosley said. “... I can't rest until I have all my soldiers and airmen home safe.”
May Mosley and his soldiers one day rest.
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com.
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