A milestone in the Gulf War will be marked tonight when President Obama, in an Oval Office address to the nation, formally announces the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq.
Seven years after the start of the military campaign, the speech is likely to spark a lot of questions.
Has the Iraq war been a success?
"It's too early to say if it's been a success," said Saverio Manago, an assistant professor at Salem State College who has an interesting perspective on the war. A 28-year Army veteran and retired colonel, he served in Iraq in 2005 doing strategic assessments for multinational forces.
Manago is both hopeful and concerned.
"I have cautious optimism, but I would tell you it may be premature to withdraw combat forces because of the political instability," he said.
However, Manago said he is confident that military personnel are making the right decision.
"I would never question the judgment of soldiers on the ground," he said. "If they feel as though conditions are right, then I would certainly go along with that."
There are different opinions on the success of the Iraq war — different opinions right on the Salem State campus.
"I have a pretty abysmal view of this war, and not of what it failed to accomplish but what it never could have accomplished," said Andrew Darien, an associate professor of history who taught a seminar on U.S.-Muslim relations.
In addition to failing to find weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. effort failed in other ways, he said.
"The U.S. has spent tens of billions of dollars," and the country "is infinitely more unstable than when the war began," he said. "... The entire region is more unstable, and the unintended consequences of this war have been to make Pakistan and Iran much more powerful players in the region."
Beverly police Chief Mark Ray, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army National Guard, was garrison commander at Abu Ghraib prison in 2005 following the abuse scandal. He knows the country wants to govern itself and is hopeful it will be ready.
"I had the opportunity to deal with a local police chief ... and I asked him what he thought — if he liked having us there," Ray said. "His comment back to me was, 'We like you here now, but as soon as things are safe we want you to leave.' I thought that was probably the most honest statement I got from anybody."
Ray thinks the situation in Iraq is better today — certainly better than when Saddam Hussein was in power. Ultimately, however, when all U.S. forces are gone (50,000 noncombat troops remain), he said the picture is likely to be murky.
"I think success for Iraq and maybe the U.S. are two different things," he said. "When we leave and pull out of Iraq, it's not going to be an image of what we as Americans would see as success. I think Iraq is going to find their own success. ... They're going to build a country they think is right for Iraq. They're not going to build a country that is our image of success."
Manago, the retired colonel, acknowledged that almost daily violence continues and that the country has failed to form a government months after holding an election.
But he pointed to the fact that a democratic election was held and a constitution drawn, and contends the situation on the ground is better.
"Militarily, the conditions have been set for the Iraqis to govern themselves," he said. "... Violence has been reduced. When I was there, the level of violence had been very, very high. Relatively speaking, (it has) dropped off dramatically."
The burden now, he said, falls on Iraqi leaders, U.S. diplomats and other in the region.
"Until there's a political resolution, we're not going to see a lasting peace in Iraq," he said.
When asked to assess the situation in Iraq, the thoughts of Salem Patrolman Kevin Gillan turned to the casualties of war.
"The sad part is thousands of people were killed and injured," said Gillan, a Marine Reserves staff sergeant who was in Iraq in 2003. "I know some people who were killed and some who were injured. It was just a tragic, unfortunate result of war. ... I don't believe any people who were injured or killed in war feel it was worth it, good or bad."
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