War Experience

"I cannot imagine what it must have been like living here at that time, Mac. I think more people need to write it all down, we need a record."-- intlxpatr

Being in the middle of a war is unbearable. But having to live in war twice is the worst thing a man could experience in his life, and so having to bear with these memories is simply a nightmare. A nightmare that has a mixture of good and bad memories.

The first war was the invasion of Iraq on my beloved country Kuwait. Back in 1990, our closest neighbor and our greatest ally simply decided to take over our country without regarding the greatest bonds and our trust in him. That was my first experience in a war that turned my innocent childhood into a dirty playground.

We were just a bunch of naive children back then. We used to play outside until morning not knowing how critical the situation was and how stressful it is to our parents. Even though I was young I remember my country being robbed and citizens taken captives right of their doorstep but back then I was too young to care.

President George Bush supported Kuwait against this hostile behavior and unleashed Operation Desert Storm to free Kuwait. After 7 months from the invasion Iraqi forces retreated from Kuwait scorching everything on their way out.

Thirteen years later, President G.W. Bush raged a new war in the region (Operation Iraqi Freedom) facing the Iraqi regime and their leader Saddam Hussain. During this war Iraq launched missiles towards Kuwait that have hit close to residential areas and a shopping mall (Souq Sharq), causing terror between citizens in Kuwait and bringing back memories of the first invasion. Fortunately, there were no casualties in Kuwait.

Thanks to the last war, not only Kuwait has rested from this atrocious regime, but the whole world and especially Iraqi people that have been tortured in every way. However, mistakenly I thought Iraqi people can live in peace and harmony and feel the freedom that had been taken away from them all these years after liberating them from Saddam's regime but I was wrong. Only God knows how that mess would end.

War is a waste of money, time and lives. No one could ever disagree with that but; sometimes-peaceful solutions simply don't work for some people. They hold on to their wrong acts and make their own people suffer for their greed. Just like what the Iraqi leader did to his people. Is it really worth to be killed for someone made you suffer all your life? Are we going to learn from all the wars that we've gone through? These are some questions people should be asking themselves, and more importantly world leaders to prevent such situations.

In conclusion, it is a great feeling to sleep safe past these experiences. We can only hope that someday we will wake up living a peaceful world.