This week is the five-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“After five years of struggle, the United States finds itself in the unenviable position of trying to create a more or less democratic civil society where none has ever existed,” said Martin Hardeman, an Eastern history professor.

Most Americans are somewhat familiar of the impacts in the United States but are oblivious to the effects of the war in Iraq.

Iraq has become less safe for the Iraqis sense the United States invaded in 2003. The Iraqis have been where the U.S. was trying to fight, leading to many Iraqis’ deaths.

“Everyday life has been harder for most Iraqis as well, with much of the country’s infrastructure destroyed and the continuing presence of an occupying army often unable to discern harmless Iraqis from harmful Iraqis,” said Dr. Jeff Taylor, an assistant professor of political science at Western Illinois University.

Other impacts in Iraq include the removal of Saddam Hussein.

“With the removal of Hussein’s dictatorship, open warfare between Sunnis and Shiites broke out,” Taylor said. “This removal has led to other, far-less-beneficial impacts, including civil war, growing influence of Iranian-encouraged Shiite fundamentalism, and the introduction of al-Qaeda into Iraq.”

The invasion and ensuing war increased Americans’ interest in the Middle East, said Ken Cuno, a professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

“I think that once things went wrong with the invasion, people began to think maybe we ought to know a thing or two about this place,” Cuno said.

Being tied down in Iraq has also limited the ability of the U.S. to act effectively elsewhere in the region, and hurt our credibility,” said Cuno.

The United States has also been victim to many impacts because of the war. The amount of money the United States spent on the war was a concern for many, with numbers well into the billions.

“Our government is spending an estimated $12 billion a month in Iraq with no end in sight,” said Taylor. “This has contributed to massive deficit spending, greater reliance on foreign investment, and a weakening U.S. dollar. “

Foreign countries and populations have had their opinion of the US change due to the invasion, Taylor said. Citizens have also become disenchanted with the government.

“The Republican Party has become increasingly unpopular among voters as warnings of an Iraqi threat to U.S. national security were revealed to be false and as failures to achieve military victory and political stability have continued,” Taylor said.

The war has had both long term and short-term effects on Iraq.

“Long term it is hard to predict with any certainty. Short term (since 2003) the invasion has destabilized Iraq and drained resources from the effort to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan,” Cuno said.

The U.S. has also faced the short-term affects of the war.

Almost 4,000 Americans have been killed and tens of thousands have been wounded and estimates run between 30,000 and 100,000 wounded or incapacitated, Taylor said.

In the current presidential election, Iraq is one of the main issues candidates are discussing.

“In some ways, Senator McCain’s statement that we will have troops in Iraq for the next hundred years seems more likely than the rather vague statements by Senators

Clinton and Obama calling for an immediate disengagement,” Hardeman said. “The term

‘immediate’ is quite flexible. It could mean 60 days, 6 months or 100 years.”

Despite candidates saying they will change current foreign policy, some professors do not believe their claims.

“The next administration, even under Obama’s or Clinton’s leadership, is likely to continue business-as-usual around the world, including overseas military intervention having nothing to do with U.S. national security,” Taylor said. “This has been the bipartisan elite consensus for a century and is unlikely to change any time soon.”

Ashley Mefford can be reached at 581-7942 or at almefford@eiu.edu.