Tuesday, September 3, 2013

World War III?

I was in high school when the twin towers were attacked on September 11th. At that time, when many were considering going on to college, many of my classmates decided to go into the armed services for obvious reasons. At that time no one knew why we were going to Iraq and how long the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would last, or that we would later find out the war in Iraq didn't really have much to do with the attacks that occurred on September 11th. We all knew we were attacked, and we needed to go after those responsible and prevent it from occurring again.

We find ourselves 12 years later, dealing with homegrown terrorists and threats to Americans and our allies abroad. We now find ourselves with the looming possibility of striking Syria for its crimes against its people. 

What has been happening in Syria has been horrible and tragic. Over 200,000 killed in their civil war so far with a million displaced. Its so sad, and at times surreal that wars like this can still occur in this day and age. Its painful to think a government would actually carry out attacks against its own people. That leaves us to wonder; do we have a moral obligation to do what is right for the innocent Syrians that have been killed and to potentially block more deaths? Do we have an obligation to the American people and more specifically the people that serve our country to not get involved?

Its scary to think that a military strike by the U.S. could lead to retaliation by Syria and their ally Iran. Its scary to think they would strike Israel, furthering our involvement in the Middle East which could very well lead to a full scale war. Would our Middle Eastern allies get involved if we find ourselves at war again or would they just nod their heads in approval and be happy its us fighting and not them.

I was inspired to write this after seeing on BuzzFeed the trend occurring by members of the military anonymously sharing their disapproval for a military attack on Syria on social media. I understand they have an obligation to this country, and to our President, and cannot speak out against the President or policy; I just also believe our government has a moral obligation to defend our country and to protect those that serve it as well. They didn't sign up for this,and if the military cannot speak their mind, we should show our troops support and speak up for them.

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