President Donald Trump struck political gold last week when he ordered missile strikes on a Syrian airbase in response to apparent gas attacks against Syrian civilians. After the attack, the president dusted off the old line that the missiles were launched in America’s defense, to thunderous applause on both sides of the aisle. This very obviously flies in the face of Trump’s previous statements, where he warned Obama against getting involved in Syria. Moreover, his actions have reignited the flame of American interventionism, which does more harm than good.
Before World War I, the United States was not the military power we know it as today. Traces of American interventions on the global stage occur after the Spanish-American War, which resulted in colonial interests in the Philippines and South America. Enter the beginning of what would become a long road of making enemies.
American people of the 20th century almost always opposed war. Both World Wars were met with opposition until some act of aggression by a foreign power instigated a response. After World War II, which would leave only the United States and the Soviet Union as standing world powers, a new paradigm would emerge between the two states: the Cold War. This essentially was a proxy conflict, fought on the soil of third-party nations. It set a precedent for the U.S. as the main fighting force of the United Nations. The endless conflict of the Cold War created what Eisenhower would call the “military-industrial complex,” essentially a representation of the interests of American arms manufacturers lobbying for war in order to stay in business.
Some historical flashpoints during this time, like the founding of Israel and the Iranian Revolution, heavily involved the U.S., and issues in the region can be traced back to these moments. Continued American support for Israel ignited dislike for the West by neighboring states. Iran’s revolution, which was against a pro-Western autocrat whom Carter offered medical help to, resulted in the long siege of American hostages by the new government. The Iran-Iraq War, started shortly after the revolution, was fought by two neighboring states, of which Iraq was supported by the West. The resulting debt after a decade of war instigated a greedy Saddam Hussein, and incited both gulf wars. Dislike of the U.S. for all of these reasons contributed to motivations 9/11 and led America down its modern path of global military aggression.
Enter Donald Trump. As a candidate who ran on the line “America First,” I was only hopeful for his non-intervention in the hornet’s nest of Syria after his successful election. Even though he ran against Hillary Clinton on the basis of her starting a third World War by becoming involved in Syria, he turns around and does just that before his first 100 days are expended. Anyone should be able to see the useless cycle of Middle Eastern intervention, which is that helping one side invariably creates an enemy.
The only thing our new president had going for him in my eyes is the closure of American military bases to reduce military spending. By the way, we have almost 800 bases in over 70 countries, which, in my opinion, constitutes an empire. The spending needed to fuel these bases is not officially known, but is measured in the hundreds of billions.
If Trump or any of his military advisors had any sense, they would stay out of the tangled mess in Syria and stick to their campaign guns to reverse Obama’s mistakes in helping Syrian rebels in the first place. Getting our hands in everyone else’s pots has demonstrably led to bad results and will continue to do so as long as America sees itself as the sole protector of the globe.