After reports confirmed that chemical weapons had been used on Syrian rebels, President Obama announced that the CIA will arm and train Syrian rebels as well as provide small arms and ammunition. An article on Fox News stated,
As the United States prepares to supply Syrian rebels with small arms through a CIA-run program, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Saturday that U.S. troops temporarily in neighboring Jordan will leave behind fighter jets and a cache of Patriot missiles.
So far the White House has committed only to supplying rebel forces with small arms and ammunition, following confirmation that the regime of Syria President Bashar al-Assad’s has been using chemical weapons in the 2-year-long civil war in which at least 90,000 people have been killed.
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and other Capitol Hill military hawks have called for much heavier arms including the Patriot defense missiles and for the United States to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria.
Personally, I’m against any involvement here. Time and time again we get involved in foreign wars that do not concern us, plunging our country farther and farther into debt for the benefit of others. This is a noble pursuit, but it’s got to stop.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been unproductive aside from the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Military expenditures have gone through the roof in recent years and for what? To “stop terrorism?” I don’t even think that’s possible without divine intervention. You can’t stop evil, it just happens. You can cause bad things to happen less frequently, but they’re still going to happen. In this case, the cost that we’re paying is too much. With our economy in dire straits, it seems like isolationism would be the best foreign policy to me. We’re always the ones that have to do something. Why can’t someone else step in? When’s Britain going to do something, or France or Germany or Canada, etc? It’s time for someone else to do something. If people want the world to be a better place, they need to go out there and do something about it, not expect the same guy to go fix the problem. The U.S. has to be a father figure and do everything because everyone else is too cowardly or too selfish to do anything themselves.
I also wonder if the U.S. has learned anything from past history. In the late 1970’s, we supported an Iranian shah who was a brutal and corrupt dictator, but because he served U.S. interests we supported him in the revolution. When he was defeated, we took the shah into our country. When the Iranians asked for him back so that justice could be served, the U.S. refused. The Iranians then took hostages from the U.S. embassy, and the U.S. interference with the Iranians “justice” is what led to the Iranians hatred of the United States. A link to that whole history class here.
We also armed Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet Union and those same weapons are now being used against us today. Every involvement we have ever had with the Middle East, aside from the Persian Gulf War of the 90’s, has accomplished nothing and has been detrimental to our economy and foreign relations. I don’t understand why the U.S. continues to get involved over there. It makes no sense to me.
wordsofwistim 