More war is not the answer

Our foreign policy has for too long been based on short-term considerations. Our recent wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq have faced guerilla warfare, on unfamiliar terrain, on the other side of the world. All military tacticians would say that this is precarious, yet we have participated in three such wars resulting in millions of refugees, the loss of hundreds of thousands of American lives, a cost of trillions of dollars, and an uprising against the West that now threatens the world.

Over a million years ago hominoids moved out of Africa to populate the Earth. Obviously after a vast period of time, they separated from each other and developed in slightly different ways. For instance, they evolved different ideologies, religions and political systems. However, when nations have lost sight of these differences and try to force their way of life on others, that nation gets very angry. That’s what we have recently done, and that’s exctly what has happened.

In our naive, prideful, belief that all people in the world should live the same way we do, we have stirred up a terrible clash of ideologies, politics and religions throughout the Middle East. Of course, all nations share in having right wing, hawkish interpretations of their values in relation to others. Such reactions recorded in history are always followed by revolt, and that has happened again.

Our bombing of two nations has caused some of them to bomb us. We in the West have caused a very small group of jihadists under Osama Bin Laden to grow into the horrors of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram that we face today. Among other things, they are seeking revenge for things like our invasion and occupation of two sovereign nations (that has caused millions of refugees to flee their homes) and our unilateral support of Israel (that has led to the formation of concentration camps in the West Bank and Gaza).

Thus we have been deeply involved in the threat that we now see before us. So what is the answer? We obviously must learn from our mistakes, but we also must protect ourselves with homeland security and even some strategic bombing with local support. However, we must never put more troops on the ground. To do so will make matters worse.

Al Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed Caliph of ISIS, has said that what he’s trying to do is force more Western troops to enter his war on his territory, because his guerilla warfare will bring about the same results as the last three wars, and it will inspire his troops and bankrupt the West. We must look beyond all of this to long-term solutions that can really make a difference. For instance, we must continue to do all that we can to get out of the Middle East.

We must learn to readily accept different religions and ideologies to stop the arrogance and extremism that is now present on both sides. We must work with all those in the area to reach humane and just compromises that benefit everyone. We must not minimalize the good offices of the estimated 1.5 billion Muslim peoples who are totally opposed to the jihadists, and work with them to fight the ideologies of the extremists in their midst.

It is a complicated mess that together with the madman Assad of Syria, has resulted in a vast river of refugees that are now pouring into Europe. I find it shocking that there are those in the U.S. who are saying that we should not do our part with effective screening to relieve the emergency needs of these suffering people (many of whom are children), when we have been so involved in making this happen.

To simply turn them away with blind, insensitive naiveté will just fuel the fire of the jihadists. Also to ignore these refugees and try to push them off on others is cruel, immoral and unthinkable. It is time not for confrontation but for communication and cooperation. In three disastrous wars you would think we would have learned that. It’s past time to wake up and start doing things differently before we find ourselves bankrupt, weak, and totally devoid of the morals that made this country great.

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 8:13 AM with the headline "More war is not the answer."