Scott Whittington became one of the first Marines to enter Iraq in the US invasion.
The date was March 20th, 2003.
“It was Day One. I crossed the border into the oil fields into the south.”
Now, 11 years later, he is just one of the millions of veterans watching in disbelief as the country starts to crumble, under attack from Islamist extremists determined to take over.
“This is threatening us, threatening the United States of America, and threatening what we set up for those people,” said Whittington.
Those people are the Iraqis who he says welcomed him and other troops with open arms, ready for freedom.
Now, that freedom is threatened by ISIS, which stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“My hand is in the air to go back. If they call me, I’m in, I’m on first plane because I met too many friends there, the Iraqis, and we might have let them down,” said Whittington.
ISIS has been invading from the north, taking major cities like Mosul, Tikrit, and Fallujah after the Iraqi Army abandoned their posts and retreated south.
Next on the ISIS list is Baghdad.
So before they can take over the capital city, Whittington is one of the veterans urging the President to do anything necessary to help save what he and others fought so many years for.
“It’s time to do it. Time to get in there, make sure they don't bully their way in because if we don’t do it and ISIS takes over, then all of my friends died for nothing,” said Whittington.
