Army Sgt. Dave Sterling was serving in the Sunni Triangle in Iraq in 2003 the day Saddam Hussein was captured by American forces.
Some Iraqis were dancing in the streets, celebrating the impending demise of a dictator. Supporters of Hussein, however, threw razor blades at the soldiers.
Now, 17 years later, Sterling reads and watches news reports of what appears to be an escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Much of it is taking place in Iraq.
After an Iranian-led attack at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, President Donald Trump ordered a targeted missile strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian commander, as well as six others, including an Iraqi deputy commander. In response, the Iraqi parliament voted to expel U.S. military troops, although it?s not clear if that will happen. Trump vowed to hit Iraq with sanctions if troops are asked to leave. More than 3,000 additional troops were deployed to the Middle East over the weekend.
Sterling said he believes the U.S. was justified in the attack, but he won?t speculate about what might happen next.
?If we leave, there will be consequences. If we stay, there will be consequences,? he said.
And just as he saw the different factions in Iraq react in different ways to Hussein?s capture, he sees a variety of reactions to the current situation. Across the U.S. and even the world, opinions vary as to what steps to take.
?It?s just like with us. There are people on both sides,? Sterling said. ?I can see both sides of the coin. It just depends which side you want to face up.?
STERLING is one of four Iola veterans who served with military forces in Iraq and shared their thoughts on the latest developments in the Middle East.
They don?t all agree about the extent of U.S. involvement in the region, but they know firsthand how the Middle East presents complex challenges unfamiliar to most Americans.
Watching the conflict unfold brought unsettling feelings for Cpl. Chase Martin. He served in Iraq in 2006 as part of a K-9 unit to hunt explosive devices with the Marine Corps.
?This happened really fast. Not much time was wasted,? he said. ?Do a little research on the Iranian general who was killed. He was a bad guy, a terrorist in a military uniform. He was plotting to kill Americans.?
?I think most people in the military are going to think it was the right move, but as I get older I realize there are ramifications,? he said.
The world is a different place than it was at the start of Operation Desert Storm in 2003. The U.S. dove into Iraq on a wave of post-9/11 optimism. The march to Baghdad was swift, but troops soon found themselves fighting a sort of guerilla-style warfare against insurgents from neighboring countries and terrorist cells. The Middle East has struggled with conflict caused by religious extremism for hundreds of years.
?We went in and really turned things around,? Martin said. ?But this is the Middle East.?
Today?s youngest military recruits had not been born on 9/11. They?ve grown up in a digital and divisive world. Information and images, good and bad, true or false, can spread like wildfire online.
