Wanting to break the vicious cycle

September 11, 2014

The Okay First Of All Blog!

Wanting To Break A Vicious Cycle

Kevin Pennant September 11, 2014

War hawks in Congress and specifically within the Republican party (and or those who profit immensely from the declaration of war) can’t see pass the collateral damage that has and will continue to besiege the United States.

Many can’t see that rash military actions are a poor substitute for being decisive when atrocities turn into probable threats against US security interests in the Middle East, and where ISIS has become gruesomely barbaric with their planned caliphate of the Islamic state. Many misapprehend the deliberate leadership of President Obama over the reactionary leadership of President Bush (W).

Containing and degrading a threat to humanity is a just cause to a strategic response that would include the use of proportional military force. It should be viewed as a global threat. This is not sovereign ground for the US nor are the other bordering regions for that matter, and so the use of 1

September 11, 2014

diplomacy with regional partners would surmount to a greater deterrent to the movements of ISIS. Whether 200,000 American combat troops could quickly decimate ISIS should not be the deciding factor, nor is it sound judgment. That is merely seen as unilateral bullying by a super power, and seen as threatening to BRIC nations like China, India and Brazil who would ramp up efforts to strengthen their military needlessly.

American combat troops always bring a level of collateral damage that seems to widen the already vicious cycle of terrorism in the middle east. The presence of American troops is like fodder to the unwieldily expansion of terrorism which has now become a military tactic for even Russia in the Ukraine. The US would be accountable for the actions of soldiers that dehumanize and detract from the focus of the primary mission. It has happened infamously in Iraq when pictures of US soldiers were exposed mistreating alleged prisoners of war. Â Â

As a rational person of color it is not easy to posit troops amongst innocent civilians living in the region, putting everyone within the vicinity in harms way to destroy ISIS. The civilians are people of color too, and so I am not inclined to show indifference even under the American flag.

Furthermore the initiation of violence begets further violence. It should be apparent that this is not a conventional war, like the ones fought in WWI or WWII.!

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