Syria has fallen, rebels have taken over, and the U.S. is there, deploying troops and constructing bases. Go back a little while. August, 1953. The U.S. officially enters what would go on to be 72 years of conflict and interference. In Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh is removed in an infamous coup carried out jointly by the CIA and Britain. Then there’s the Suez Crisis in Egypt, after that the Six-Day War, and then interference in the laughable “Shuttle Diplomacy” of Henry Kissinger regarding Egypt, Syria, and Israel. And it just continues. Year after year, the U.S. sticks its hands where it has no business. And the results have proven to be deadly each and every time for U.S. soldiers and natives of the Middle East alike. The question is, why is the U.S. so concerned with non-American issues?
There’s no doubt about it; the Middle East is rich. Resources, gold, and so much more. It makes sense that people should desire it; it’s human nature. But what’s not humane, is entering the political sphere of another country and disrupting it to promote your devious plans and avaricious enterprises. This is exactly what’s been going on for decades, and year by year it’s exacerbating.
War is a business. The production and distribution of arms, sky and sea combat vehicles, and so much more. Dick Cheney and George W. Bush know this all too well. Cheney, who was the key liaison between the government and Haliburton, the world’s second-largest oil service, procured an immense profit from 20 years worth of Middle-Eastern war. Cornell University says that as Secretary of Defense, he nominated Haliburton to replace military logistics, generating over $2.5 billion in the next ten years. With Cheney’s position, he funneled $400 million worth of taxpayer dollars toward Haliburton’s international interference. It’s no surprise then, that he became CEO in 1995, and reaped additional rewards. What other corporations have benefited from war? What rapport exists between the government and private companies? Corporations like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Haliburton, and many more have made billions via the provision of arms.
What else could unify a nation like a common enemy? Not much, to be honest. This narrative has been proliferated for decades. China, Russia, and the Middle East have the short end of the stick. They’re the boogeyman, that “together as a nation, we can bring down” (source: literally every article to have ever existed). Under the of pretense of patriotism, malicious entities are created whom, by the way, only mainstream western media covers. This continues to feed the monstrous military industrial complex, taking taxpayer dollars and tripling the profits; and it’s not going back to the American people.
“Each country wants to be better than the other, [so] they (America) take advantage of resources.” said Anna Chausova, a freshman. These countries are also highly desirable; China is the second-largest nuclear superpower in the world, with Russia in fourth. (2024 U.S. Energy) We shouldn’t soon forget that China is also a huge provider of goods globally. The Middle East has oil, cotton, copper, coal, ammonia, iron, tobacco, coffee, and many more plentiful resources. It’s a race, but America is cheating.
We have future politicians and leaders right here at Monte Vista. How are we, as students, supposed to condone the actions of our leaders without heavy hearts? How can we build our values if our role models are corrupt? As students, and further as Americans, we are obligated to promote the best version of our country. By continuing this childish interference in the Middle East, our leaders are proliferating a tainted image of America, one our generation, and even future MV alumni, must overcome, learning from the mistakes of our predecessors.
In total, after the Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan conflicts/U.S. interferences, 1,146,000 people were killed (New York Times). This includes civilians, military, opposition fighters, and American troops. In total, American taxpayers have given over $6.5 trillion for strife, discord, and death in the Middle East. Our own troops have died under the facade of patriotism, when really their lives were lost in the name of Hamilton 10s and Jackson 20s. And not to give back to the people; to go directly into the pockets of a small elite group. How much longer will we interfere, sending countries like Syria further into a downward spiral, until they’re completely obsolete as a functioning government and nation? I implore our leaders, for the sake of inspiring our generation, and the students of MV; do better. Do what’s right by America, and fix our domestic problems, rather than toppling other nations. Let’s revive America’s splendor and honest name, and save millions of lives in the Middle East and elsewhere.
