When addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1961, President JFK proclaimed, “Mankind must put an end to war--or war will put an end to mankind” (US Department of State). JFK understood war could lead to humanity’s demise. The policies the United States utilizes today do not aid in quelling the conflicts the nation fights in. By seizing combat-ridden states’ resources and unnecessarily attacking innocent civilians, the United States continues to remain in superfluous conflicts.
The attainment for resources has contributed heavily to the United States involvement in gratuitous warfare and no resource has done this more than oil. The “American romance” with oil dates all the way back to the 1930’s (Jones 2012). The conflicts the United States has been a part of between the nations of Iran, Iraq, and/or Kuwait have all had been somewhat motivated by oil. The attraction for oil the United States has is so heavily apparent it may be seen satirized in a Family Guy bit. In the Family Guy episode, "Road to Germany," Brian and Stewie become stuck in 1939 Poland during the beginning of the German Blitzkrieg due to a lack of Uranium for their time machine return-pad. Brain suggests to Stewie to go to Berlin where the German atomic research facility was located. Stewie retorts by asking why the United States did not attack the Germans who were attempting to make weapons of mass destruction. Brain responds by saying, “I don’t know maybe because they (Germany) don’t have any oil” (Chevapravadumrong 2008). United States conflicts and oil are so intertwined that Family Guy blatantly states it as a major motive for US military force. Involvement in conflicts with resources such as oil allows for prolonged warfare. This has been part of what aids in keeping the United States in gratuitous combat.
The longest United States military conflict to date remains the ongoing strife with Afghanistan. Prior to the military occupation of American troops in Afghanistan, the Taliban destroyed almost all of the opium crops present there. Currently, 90 percent of the world’s opium comes from Afghanistan and US troops are often seen protecting these fields (Martin 2014). For those who do not know, opium may be used for opium latex found in medication like codeine, oxycodone, and morphine. Pharmaceutical companies who lobby to the United States Congress always need more of this latex for production. If troops keeping a watchful eye on these plants was not already disarming, the US paid the Taliban to protect the trade routes for opium; having the enemy work for the US does not lead to victory and only allows for further propagation of conflicts (Martin 2014). Opium in Afghanistan continues to be a large part of why we continue to keep troops there and presents another example of resources holding the United States in excessive combat.
The desire for resources keeps the United States fighting in superfluous conflict but so does the attacking of innocent civilians. In 2015, Paul Gottinger, a staff reporter for Reader Supported News, accumulated a large amount of information by looking at state records from George Bush’s declaration of the War on Terror post 911 to the present and found a 6,500 percent increase in terrorism (O’Connell 2015). A large part of the increase in terrorism may be attributed to the destruction of the populace in the Middle East.
Bombing enemy targets has become commonplace in American fighting tactics; the modern war with ISIS is no exception. Recently, the United States needed to gain a better position before attacking the ISIS stronghold of Manbij. To do this the United States had a two-month bombing montage during which the village of Tokkhar became one of the targets even though the United States had been warned of high civilian numbers there. The death toll of civilians came to 117 with 73 being documented due to the bodies being so badly charred (Graham-Harrison, Spencer 2016). Destruction of places like Tokkhar only aids in these increases of terrorism seen across the Middle East and continue to hold the United States in needless confrontations.
The United States tends to back specific groups in fighting their wars which reflect poorly on the US. One of these groups in the current war against ISIS is Nour al-Din Zenky. Members of this group recently gained some time in the spotlight as they decapitated a boy around 12 years old under suspicion of him being part of a pro-regime military force, it was later found he did not belong to this group. The boy’s last wish was to be shot and not slaughtered. One of the Nour al-Din Zenky responded by saying, “Shooting? No we will slaughter you. We are savages more than ISIS.” Nour al-Din Zenky has come out against these members and said this scenario may be seen in terms of ‘individual errors.’ Amnesty International disagrees with this saying groups like these move throughout the region with impunity and has sunken to the “depths of depravity” (Armstrong 2016). The United States backing such vile groups fuels conflicts and prolongs their lengths. The anarchy ensuing in Syria will ensure that even if ISIS is eliminated groups like Nour al-Din Zenky will exist as a threat to any stabilization of the region. War for the United States will lengthen with groups like Nour al-Din Zenky thriving and they can only thrive as long as they support them.
The United States remains in gratuitous warfare by taking weakened states’ resources and by assaulting the innocent public, either directly or indirectly. The demise of humanity approaches closer each day as policies like these remain in place. JFK’s fears of war destroying all of us would not be quelled by today’s circumstances, rather his fears would likely be exacerbated; United States citizens should take a moment to contemplate why we remain involved in so many excessive skirmishes.
Work Cited
US Department of State (25 September 1961). Address by President John F. Kennedy to the UN General Assembly. Retrieved from: http://www.state.gov/p/io/potusunga/207241.htm
Chevapravadumrong, Cherry, Cyndi Tang. 19 Oct. 2008. Family Guy (Television Series). Alex Borstein. Los Angeles, California: 20th Century Fox Television.
Jones, Toby Craig (2012). America, Oil, and War in the Middle East. The Journal of American History. Retrieved from: http://jah.oxfordjournals.org/content/99/1/208.extract
Martin, Abby (3 January 2014). How Opium is Keeping US in Afghanistan. CIA’s Shady History of Drug Trafficking. Media Roots. Retrieved from: http://mediaroots.org/opium-what-afghanistan-is-really-about/
Graham-Harrison, Emma, Spencer Ackerman (20 July 2016). US Airstrikes Allegedly Kill at Least 73 Civilians in Northern Syria. the guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/20/us-airstrike-allegedly-kills-56-civilians-in-northern-syria
O’Connell, Kit (22 December 2015). The War on Terror Has Created 6500% More Terrorism. ANTI MEDIA. Retrieved from: http://theantimedia.org/the-war-on-terror-has-created-6500-more-terrorism/
Armstrong, Paul, Handi Alkhashali (21 July 2016). Rebels in Syria call boy’s beheading a ‘mistake’. CNN. Retrieved from: www.cnn.com/2016/07/20/middleeast/boy-beheaded-in-Syria
