The fact is, nothing good has ever come from the U.S. intervening in the Mid East, and nothing good will ever come from U.S. intervention in the Mid East. Yet the President seems to have an overwhelming desire to continue doing what hasn't worked in the past. I believe the definition of insanity is one doing the same thing again and again with the expectation of different results. That being said, America's leaders have displayed complete insanity in continuing to intervene in the Mideast. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen have all been complete disasters and surprisingly, our President appears to have forgotten.
Afghanistan, is as of today no better off than it was back in 2001. America however, is worse off than it was in 2001, thanks to getting involved in Afghanistan. Thousands of American lives have been lost, and a trillion dollars in military spending has been added to America's deficit. Iraq, another disaster, is sadly worse off today than it was in 2003 , and it's been even more of a disaster than Afghanistan. America was successful in removing the tyrannical and vicious dictator, Saddam Hussein, but the outcome was even worse. With the removal of Saddam, the end result was the terrorist group ISIS, a highly dysfunctional sectarian government, over 1.4 million Iraqis killed, the loss of over 4400 American lives and over $1.1 trillion spent. With Afghanistan and Iraq being epic failures, one would have thought America might have learned its lesson, but America did not. No, America just could not stand by and do nothing. America got involved in Libya and the removal of Muammar Qaddafi. As bad as Qaddafi was, the people of Libya were better off under his regime than the current regime. The result has been another disaster, and a government equivalent to the failed state of Somalia. Another utter disaster of America's failed intervention was Yemen. Yemen brought years of drone warfare, and the government take over of Houthi rebels . All in all, America's intervention in foreign wars has brought nothing but added chaos, lives lost, and trillions of dollars spent, and for what?
Afghanistan, is as of today no better off than it was back in 2001. America however, is worse off than it was in 2001, thanks to getting involved in Afghanistan. Thousands of American lives have been lost, and a trillion dollars in military spending has been added to America's deficit. Iraq, another disaster, is sadly worse off today than it was in 2003 , and it's been even more of a disaster than Afghanistan. America was successful in removing the tyrannical and vicious dictator, Saddam Hussein, but the outcome was even worse. With the removal of Saddam, the end result was the terrorist group ISIS, a highly dysfunctional sectarian government, over 1.4 million Iraqis killed, the loss of over 4400 American lives and over $1.1 trillion spent. With Afghanistan and Iraq being epic failures, one would have thought America might have learned its lesson, but America did not. No, America just could not stand by and do nothing. America got involved in Libya and the removal of Muammar Qaddafi. As bad as Qaddafi was, the people of Libya were better off under his regime than the current regime. The result has been another disaster, and a government equivalent to the failed state of Somalia. Another utter disaster of America's failed intervention was Yemen. Yemen brought years of drone warfare, and the government take over of Houthi rebels . All in all, America's intervention in foreign wars has brought nothing but added chaos, lives lost, and trillions of dollars spent, and for what?
Nothing good came from America intervening in wars that weren't America's to fight. Nothing! At a rally held by then presidential candidate, Donald Trump, Trump stated that America had spent $6 trillion on wars in the Mid East. Trump claimed that we could have rebuilt our country twice, had we not spent $6 trillion on wars abroad. Unfortunately, a good many Americans voted for Trump on that issue alone. While the actual number is somewhere around $5.6 trillion, it's not far from Trump's $6 trillion figure. That's an outrageous amount of money spent for wars that weren't ours to fight and wars that brought even more conflict and disaster to the region. That's also an outrageous amount of money that as Trump stated on the campaign trail could have been better spent right here on our own country. While $5.6 trillion spent is a high price to pay for unnecessary wars, one can't place a price on the loss of American lives. Over 12,000 Americans have been killed fighting wars that weren't ours to fight, and over 900,000 more have been wounded due to war injuries as well. Not to mention, the high suicide rate among those who've served. Those who've served in wars that again weren't ours to fight.
"America first", is the phrase the presidential candidate, Donald Trump used again and again. "America first" and "make America great again" were the two slogans Trump supporters had drilled into them at Trump's presidential rallies. Donald Trump, the candidate, was America's answer. Finally, America had a man that intended on placing "America first". After years of senseless spending, if elected, Donald Trump would be the president that would rebuild America and not partake in wasteful spending abroad. Not only would Donald Trump rebuild America, but he would be the president that would "make America great again". "Make America great again" was THE slogan that helped Donald Trump get elected. The slogan was perfect, and it was convincing. In fact, Trump even went so far as to run a campaign ad exposing the deterioration of America's infrastructure and the rebuilding of America's infrastructure. It was one of the greatest campaign ads ever run, and it worked. Donald Trump was elected president.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump, the presidential candidate and President Donald Trump appear to have two very different agendas. Donald Trump as a private citizen relentlessly tweeted against U.S. involvement in Syria. Trump as a presidential candidate campaigned on staying away from foreign intervention. Trump as president has done the polar opposite. Last April President Trump informed President Xi Jinping of China of a US cruise missile attack on Syria as he spoke of, "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you've ever seen". The attack was in response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's using chemical weapons to kill helpless babies, women, and children. Political commentator, Ann Coulter ,tweeted that the President had ordered the air strike due to the urging by First Daughter, Ivanka. The attack was criticized by many. Many, that thought President Trump would be different from his predecessors, in that President Trump as a candidate had campaigned against US foreign intervention.
There is no doubt that Donald Trump, the president, is very different from Donald Trump, the candidate. As president, Donald Trump clearly wanted to prove a point to Assad that he, unlike former President Obama would not draw imaginary red lines in the sand. President Trump executed military action, unlike Obama who threatened military action but failed to execute military action. Unfortunately, President Trump forgot the base that helped him get elected in doing what Obama failed to do . President Trump forgot his base and forgot the platform on which he ran, of "America first".
April 7th, a chemical weapons attack took place in Syria. In response, the President warned of a possible attack. Upon hearing this I couldn't help but think back to Donald Trump, the candidate who again and again stated that he would never announce a military attack. He preferred the element of surprise. Then again, Trump's warning gave several political commentators the opportunity to plead with him on reasons to stay out of Syria. Fox News' Laura Ingraham, explained to her audience why the president should not attack Syria. Ingraham explained how Assad as bad as he was, did protect Christians and had been successful in fighting ISIS. Fox News's Tucker Carlson tweeted, "Assume Assad used chlorine gas. Is it worth starting a war? Overthrowing Assad results in chaos. Thousands die. We might see the genocide of one of the last Christian communities in the Mideast. Does it make us safer? Region more stable? How did regime change in Iraq and Libya end up?" Pat Buchanan, political commentator and former adviser to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan also advised against the air strikes in addition to several others.
Despite the pleading from the pundits, April 14th, President Trump announced that the U.S., Great Britain, and France launched air strikes against Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack that took place on April 7th. The air strike targeted Assad's facilities that developed and produced chemical weapons. While the air strike proved to be a success it was not deemed a success with the President's base. Social media outlets, Facebook and Twitter ,were abundant with comments on what happened to America first, what happened to Donald Trump the candidate, who vowed to refrain from foreign intervention? In addition to Trump's base being disappointed in the President, many political commentators were disappointed as well. Political commentator, Ann Coulter retweeted several anti-air strike tweets including one tweet consisting of Professor Jeffrey Sachs explanation on why Trump should not intervene in Syria. The controversial Trump supporter Alex Jones expressed his disapproval of the President's actions against Syria as well as Roger Stone. Conservative Michael Savage of the Savage Nation tweeted on how there was no proof the chemical attack was led by the Syrian army and "why only women and children shown in the propaganda pics?" As outraged as Michael Savage was on Trump's lifting the ban on big game trophy hunting, he was even more outraged over Trump's air strikes. Flamboyant, gay, conservative political commentator, and author, Milo Yiannopoulos was clearly disgusted in the President's actions. Yiannopoulos posted on instagram, "more pointless f-g foreign wars #noSecondTerm", and Info Wars' Paul Joseph Watson tweeted, "attacking a foreign nation that has not attacked or threatened America is globalist intervention. This is not America first. This is not what Trump was elected for."
No, foreign intervention was not why Trump was elected. Trump was elected on NO MORE FOREIGN INTERVENTION, NOT MORE FOREIGN INTERVENTION! Unfortunately, the president has forgotten the platform that got him elected, but the voters haven't forgotten what got him elected. What got him elected was "America first". Last week's air strikes was not putting America first. America has been involved in 4 wars in the Mideast since 9/11 and nothing good has come from any of those wars. The fact is, the Mideast is a hellhole of disaster and chaos. America's involvement only brings more disaster and chaos as well as money spent that America doesn't have to spend and the loss of innocent lives. While the chemical attack is unacceptable and horrific, it's not our problem. It's also not America's duty to police the world. Horrible atrocities are taking place worldwide. Every 56 hours a White South African farmer is killed, yet the President does nothing. Who is the President or America to choose who's lives we value more? The fact is, the President ran on less foreign intervention and he needs to stay on course. Perhaps the President would be well advised to go back and read the platform on which he ran. The platform on which the president as a candidate ran is very different from the platform the president appears to be following. That being said, the President himself is very different from the candidate for whom America voted. America voted for, "America first". America voted for Donald Trump, the candidate. Last week's air strikes are not the actions of Donald Trump the candidate whom America elected. America has instead, gotten President Trump who appears to have forgotten, "America first".
(c)Sean Bianca 2018
(c)Sean Bianca 2018
