ISIS Crisis: US should avoid third Iraq war

Treyce Bannerman, Hi-Times Staff Writer

The United States is a country founded on the principles of maintaining stability and peace for its people and of providing a beacon of hope and freedom for countries around the world. For the past few decades, however, some citizens have reached the conclusion that the most powerful nation in the world, America, is responsible for thwarting international bullies.

In recent months a Middle East calamity has taken form, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The Middle East, which has struggled with its stability in recent decades, is suffering at the hands of these Muslim extremists. So, nations around the world have turned to America, watching in anticipation to see how, if at all, the superpower will handle the situation.

Then, a moral issue comes into play. Should America, once again, solve a problem it is not directly involved in? The answer is no.

There are several reasons the United States should not intervene with the ISIS situation:

  • It would be the third time America would involve itself in a lost cause, Iraq, in less than a century. Since the first invasion of Iraq, America has set itself up for failure. The first invasion of Iraq did not result from the country’s “weapons of mass destruction,” nor did the second result from Iraq’s “blatant involvement with domestic terrorism on American soil.” Both resulted from the rich oilfields of the Persian Gulf that the radically conservative administrations of the 1990s and early 2000s wanted easy access to. American troops were sacrificed in an effort to dominate the Middle East’s oil industry. Involvement with ISIS lacks not only credibility, it lacks sufficient rationale and public support.
  • America would just be getting involved in a religious war that will eventually stabilize itself. Secondly, ISIS is based from the extremist dark side of Sunni, a sect of Islam. Furthermore, the majorly Shia (another denomination of Islam) Iranian population to the east is willing to fight ISIS. More than likely, the Middle East will once again find stability, but the situation stays the same, no matter how you spin it: America should not get involved in a religious war.
  • Most importantly, the United States will ultimately lose a situation that will yield no gain. During the Iraqi invasions, America sacrificed countless investments, resources and people just to lose a war that simply wasn’t worth it. Loss plagued both the U.S. and Iraq as a result of a war that was a draw.

America is a country founded on the principle of hope, but as America contemplates confronting ISIS, it must consider if the consequences are worth the actions. No conflict is worth the heartbreak that both Americans and Middle Easterners will ultimately face going into combat.