Baghdad Bombers Kill 28 - Do We Still Care?

Baghdad bombing site.     Credit: Reuters

Today I was skimming through internet news articles and I saw this headline on Reuters - "Suicide Bombers, Attacks Hit Baghdad Police, 28 Dead." I was about to skip right over the article, and then found myself pausing to read it.

I learned about a string of suicide bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital city that have occurred in the last two days. I learned that the attacks killed some civilans but were targeted at Iraqi police forces. I learned that there is still serious concern, as we draw down the last few thousand American troops in the coming months, that Iraqis are not capable of providing for their own safety and security.

What struck me the most about this article though was how completely removed I felt from its gory details. I sat perplexed and maybe a little ashamed.

Why did this not seem to matter to me as much any more?

Maybe it's because the focus was not on American casualties. Maybe it's because Afghanistan has dominated the war news lately. Maybe it's because I feel like I have seen the same exact headline every single day for the last five years. Maybe, "it's the economy, stupid." Maybe, like most Americans, I simply don't have the attention span to handle it all.

Whatever the reason, I have this guilty feeling that I somehow "washed my hands" of the mess in Iraq. But since we broke it, shouldn't we buy it? Even if the cost is exorbitant? Or is it okay to just say "to hell with them" and move on because we have other distant corners of the globe to worry ourselves with now? I mean, we got rid of Saddam for them, right? Can't they take it from here? Hasn't the statute of limitations run out yet on GWB's colossal Iraqi invasion fuck up? Or is this still going to be our problem for decades?

Let me state unequivocally that this is not intended to be a sad remembrance of Saddam's days gone by. And let me also say, that I have no answers to the questions I pose. I guess I am just wondering if anyone else is disturbed by how easy it is to "forget" about the responsibilities America has as a result of some pretty major foreign policy decisions we made in the last ten years.