In the name of shutting down a hostile country’s nuclear program, and to end the threat of terrorism, Israel and the U.S. have gone to war. This controversy has split our nation, and brought many things to light.
A large portion of people’s concern is the thought that Trump engaged in this war, just to show off, fear monger, and to gain control of the oil rights in Iran.
However, loyal supporters and right leaning conservatives and moderates believe the “world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism” should be shut down, and have a new government installed.
Before we get to current events, why and how did this war start?
On Feb. 28, Israel launched the first assault onto nuclear facilities and military infrastructure. This led to the end of more than two thousand Iranians and thousands more injured. This was a quick decisive blow, meant to shock Iran.
Very similar to President Bush’s operation “Shock and Awe” in the Iraq war, aiming to take air dominance and suppression.
Now, I think it is fair to assume we do not want a country that is constantly saying “Death to America” to have nuclear weapons. That is a recipe for disaster.
But it also reinforces that fear of conflict because they took control of the Strait of Hormuz, a week into the “war”.
Technically this is classified as a “conflict” and not a war because congress has yet to declare war, but for simplicity sake, I will be calling this as it is. A war.
“Even though congress hasn’t officially declared war, I consider it a war because it is a mass military operation with casualties on both sides,” Government teacher Joseph Patti said.
Death on both sides is an indisputable trait of war.
But fighting over resources is what I believe makes war.
And a huge controversy over this war is that people, more leaning on the left, think Trump is only in it for the oil that resides in Iran, but we have plenty of oil.
In fact, most of our cargo ships are actually fueled by our oil rigs in the Gulf of America, and with us actively shaping the new government in Venezuela, one of the largest oil reserves in the world, we will have no problem with purchasing oil or working out a trade agreement from them.
Besides, Trump is taking steps to frack more oil in Alaska, to have our oil more local rather than internationally exchanged.
But then there are the people who think Trump is at war, just for war sake. Calling him imperialistic, even.
But he flexed our war power in Venezuela, so I do not think he did it for that reason.
I just think in recent times, America kind of fell out of the international view, almost taking a more back seat approach. I think he wants to get us back into the thicket of international commerce.
“Without diplomatic victory, the US faces strategic failure,” Patti said. “The stated goal to end the Iranian nuclear threat won’t be met unless Iran agrees to hand over its enriched uranium. The unstated goal of regime collapse is unmet because Iran retains deterrence through its underground missile and drone cities, with which it controls the Strait of Hormuz.”
Honestly, I agree with Mr. Patti.
My own view is that flexing our power is necessary, but with a caveat. And that caveat is that we’ve already done it, with efficiency. So there must be another reason.
I believe it is what dragged us into this war in the first place: our ties with Israel.
Being one of our closest allies warrants our advances in the eyes of many of the populous, however, what will this mean for our connections with our international relationships?
“From my experience, U.S. service members are often tasked not just with combat, but with helping stabilize regions, protect people, and prevent larger conflicts from reaching our own borders.” Marine veteran and business teacher Jacob Adams said.
It seems people nowadays either love or hate Israel. I am not to comment, but they are definitely the reason we are in this war. Calling to us for support in taking down the Iranian government.
A pivotal point in people taking sides seems to originate around this topic.
People think that we should stand with “one of our greatest allies” while others take it as being in conflict for no solid reason, when we have nothing really to gain.
Overall, it is a very deep issue that stems more from social biases rather than from political discourse. There is a rather large grey area in the ethics and morals of this war that is really pushing this discourse within our borders.
I think people need to take a step back, stop playing teams, and figure out if they feel if it is necessary to be in foreign territory with a skewed view of our goal.
