Jerry J. "JJ" Aguirre, a former Marine with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, out of Kaneohe Bay, fought house to house in Fallujah in 2004, getting grazed across his back by a bullet in the process.
Eight Marines from the battalion were killed in a suicide car bomb attack; 26 more and a Navy corpsman died in the crash of a helicopter in a sandstorm; and 11 others were killed — most in Fallujah.
Those deaths appear to have been for nought now that the Iraq is devolving into sectarian violence, Aguirre says.
The current crisis in Iraq "kind of pisses you off, it really does, because a lot of guys, men and women, in all branches, gave their blood and guts, heart and soul, and sacrificed a lot, just to see this transpire," he said.
From Hawaii’s congressional delegation to combat veterans — and for the public in between — there’s much doubt, concern and worry about what comes next.
The war was a "huge mistake," and getting involved militarily in Iraq again or Syria would be another blunder, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said recently.
President Barack Obama on Thursday downplayed the possibility of "mission creep," refering to the tendency for military operations to grow in size, as he announced that up to 300 American military advisers will be sent into Iraq.
Former Lance Cpl. Aguirre, of North Carolina, said that with ongoing sectarian strife between government-backed Shiites and opposing Sunnis, "you knew it (conflict) was going to happen eventually, but wow, I guess it was just little small pieces here and there, and it’s just gotten bigger and bigger."
He added that "it’s kind of like those guys (U.S. troops) died for nothing … especially with everything erupting."
Aguirre, 32, supports very limited action in Iraq.
"The less troops on the ground, the better," he said.
F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush have flown surveillance missions over Iraq, and Obama said the United States had "significantly increased" intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
"I think we always have to guard against mission creep, so let me repeat what I’ve said in the past: American combat troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again," Obama said.
Public Policy Polling out of North Carolina, described as Democratic-leaning, found in a recent poll that nearly three-quarters of Americans oppose sending in combat troops.
Seeing the disintegration of Iraq "is kind of like, ‘Oh, my gosh, we’re regurgitating our food again,’" said Jarod Myers, a former Schofield Barracks soldier whose good friend Pfc. John D. Amos II, was killed in Kirkuk by a suicide bomber while the two were on a 2004 deployment.
"We invested in, engaged and attacked an entire nation, in my opinion, on information that turned out to be invalid," he said of the faulty belief that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. "That’s just a fact."
Despite his misgivings and personal pain — including a battle with post-traumatic stress disorder, the now-30-year-old San Antonio resident supports sending in a "few hundred" special-operations troops into key areas to help stem the spread of terrorist activity that eventually could be directed at the United States.
Those Americans on the ground would help those ships waiting at sea with coordinates that tell pilots, "Hey, this is where this (ordnance) needs to go," he said.
"I don’t think not responding is the right answer, but I don’t think putting a full-court press on is the right answer, either," said former Pfc. Myers, who was with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
Gabbard, also an Iraq veteran and still a Hawaii National Guard officer, has been appearing on national news shows decrying airstrikes and other involvement in Iraq.
"This is a religious civil war that’s occurring between two Muslim factions, the Sunni and the Shiite," Gabbard said on CNN.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had the opportunity "to create a unity government bringing together the Shia and Sunni parts of the country and actually bring about peace," she said. "That didn’t occur."
Instead, Maliki’s Shiite government "has been oppressing the Sunni Iraqi people and has been discriminating against them," Gabbard said.
Jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria have banded with disgruntled Sunni militias to take Mosul and other cities.
"You have to define who are the bad guys," Gabbard said. "It’s easy to say, ‘Let’s go in and get the bad guys,’ but you have a divided country of Sunnis and Shias."
If the United States takes action of behalf of Maliki and the Shiite government — which has close ties to Iran — "now we’re allying ourselves with Iran and essentially, if we do airstrikes, becoming a de facto air force for them," Gabbard added.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said she remains "strongly opposed" to combat troops being redeployed to Iraq.
But the threat that ISIS poses to Iraq, the region’s stability and America’s interests are serious and complex problems with no obvious or easy solutions, she said.
An amendment to the House Defense Appropriations Act offered by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa that would prevent the president from circumventing the War Powers Resolution to unilaterally commit U.S. forces to Iraq was passed in the House on Thursday without opposition, Hanabusa’s office said.
Hanabusa said she could not support Obama’s plan to increase support to Iraqi security forces and deploy American military advisers because of the "lack of an answer on how further involvement in Iraq would serve America’s national security interests."
She added, "After a decade of war, people are weary and suspicious of any further involvement abroad. They want an answer to the fundamental question of how this serves their interests."
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said, "The current situation in Iraq is a result of our invasion, not our withdrawal. U.S. military engagement is not the answer in Iraq. The future of Iraq is now up to the Iraqis."
