Endurance test

Five years and 4,000 combat deaths later, U.S. forces mark another Iraq War anniversary. Should future commemorations be marked in years or in decades? | Mindy Belz

Staff Sgt. Jason T. Bailey/U.S. Air Force

TAL USQUF, Iraq— Nestled up a switchback road north of Mosul in a mountain valley called Lalish is the Yezidi temple of Sheikh Adi. Yezidis are an ancient minority in the region who trace their syncretistic religion back to the Zoroastrians. Worshippers make pilgrimages to the ancient site in Lalish to light luminaries fueled by olive oil drawn from clay urns lining the temple's endless dank tombs.

Ask how old the temple is, and a nonplussed guide says, "God made the sun, the land, and the moon, and he made the temple at the same time. It has been here since time began." Iraqis are similarly puzzled when asked about the five-year anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq: Hasn't the war always been with us? they seem to say.