Milestone passes in US with little notice

March 20, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.

It was a day like any other day — except that it was the seventh anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And, for the most part, that was forgotten.

“Honestly, with everything that’s going on in my personal life, it slipped my mind,” said Chris Skidmore, 39, as he sipped a drink on the artificial lawn at Raleigh’s North Hills Mall. “I’ve been out of work since August of last year.”

It’s not that the average American isn’t aware that we still have tens of thousands of troops in Iraq, or that nearly 4,400 U.S. military personnel have died there since the war began. Scattered demonstrations were scheduled around the country to call for the troops’ swift return.

But with so much else going on — a torpid economy, a climactic debate over health-care reform, a mounting conflict in Afghanistan — it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Americans are still fighting and dying in Iraq.

Somewhat sheepishly, Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz acknowledged that the date’s significance was lost on him. But he said he and other Americans can be forgiven for not having March 19 marked on their mental calendars.

“Unlike Sept. 11 or unlike Dec. 7, 1941, it was not a war that began with a traumatic event,” said Wilentz. “There was a long buildup to it. There was a lot of debating back and forth. ... There wasn’t quite the sense of drama, shall we say, of the event itself, even though there were lots of dramatic events that happened that night.

“But the date did not burn itself into one’s memory the way the others did.”

Even in places such as Oceanside, Calif., whose barbershops and dry cleaners cater to the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton, the anniversary went largely unnoticed — as it has in years past. About a dozen people interviewed Friday said they were unaware of the milestone.