UMass Dartmouth
Nine years ago we declared the "War on Terrorism" in Middle-East. Thousands of civilian Muslims and thousands of Afghan and American troops have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The endless war is leading nowhere. It has put the United States in a great deficit. The United States have spent billions of dollars on current wars, and at the end we have accomplished very few goals. It is time to end the war in the Muslim world and support our own people at home. Manny people have the concept that Muslims are terrorist what so ever, because that’s what media usually shows. It is true that the "War on Terrorism" was necessary to control the terrorists, while keeping the others safe. The Afgan war was necessary to control Al-Quaida, and the Iraq war to control the weapons of mass destruction. However, there had to be some time limit of the war on terrorism, because the civilian victims of wars are becoming warriors against the NATO troops because their family members are being killed in war zone.
I, as a Muslim-American, understand the Muslims of Middle-East and their views toward America and the war on terrorism. The People of Middle East somewhat supported "War on Terrorism" in the beginning, right after 9/11. However, now people are fed up with this war because numbers of civilians are being killed in this war by the NATO and American tropes. The war in Afghanistan was declared solely to capture Bin Laden. However, we could not capture him and rather have killed thousands of civilians. The wars have made more conflict, and a worse relationship with Middle East.
In addition, the wars have run up the national debt and badly affected the U.S. economy. Bateman, the author of the essay says "a $2.4-trillion dollar war would impact many economies. The American economy has been suffering from effects of the wars, and there is tremendous concern arising from the huge sums of money spent every month...". The economic recession has affected the American people; they lost their jobs, have no health insurance and prices of products went up. People barely can afford their families. Many people do not go to college because they cannot afford it. The money spent on wars could have been used to build roads, hospitals, and on the education to make it affordable.
Furthermore, there are mental health consequences of the wars. when the soldiers return home, they get in to mental health problem. In the war zone they see many people dying, especially the children. Many suffer from the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a debilitating mental condition that can produce a range of unwanted emotional responses to the trauma of combat. Jalinek, associated press writer, says "records show roughly 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with the illness, also known as PTSD, since 2003". we are facing double consequences, one that we are loosing the soldiers in war zone, and second, the victims of PTSD.Veterans sometimes cannot even sleep, have poor concentration, and exaggerated responses are often symptoms. These are all consequences of the war, which especially affect their families.
The American government claims that the terrorist hate America. Elands say in his article "president has backed into the hypothesis by saying that terrorists ‘hate us because we are free’. The argument fails because this is not what the records show; the people in Middle East like the American system of government. The author of the article says "public opinion poll in Islamic nations repeatedly show that people in those countries actually admire America’s political and economic freedom". It clearly shows that this not why they attacked America. One of the main reasons of 9/11 attacks is due to the United States intervention in Middle East, including he Israel’s war against Palestine backed up by the United States.
The only option left to resolve the conflict is diplomacy. The U.S. had no clear diplomatic relationship with the Islamic World prior to 9/11. Zahrana in her article says "the terrorist attack on America was a wake-up call for many in Washington about the importance of public diplomacy". Diplomacy is necessary to sustain a healthy and working-relationship between the nations. Diplomatic action that could have been done before September 11 is hard to do now, but it is not impossible to do.
Eland, Ivan. "It’s what we do: the administration says the terrorists hate us for who we are. But
that isn’t what the terrorists say--or what the record shows." The American Prospect 17.1 (2006): 38+. Academic OneFile. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
Zaharna, R.S. "The unintended consequences of crisis public diplomacy: American public diplomacy in the Arab world." Foreign Policy in Focus 8.2 (2003): 1. Academic OneFile. Web. 28 Oct. 2010.JELINEK, PAULINE associate Press Writer "40,000 US Soldiers with PTSD- May 7, 2008
Bateman, Taylor. "Effects of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars on U.S. Economy" The CSUB Economic Report. September 27, 2010.
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