Just Say No

The argument between just war and just peace is one that has been going on since the history of mankind. It can be broken down by different examples. Rather it is the major wars in our history, or more simply everyday occurrences we encounter on a day to day basis. In these situations one may be forced to make quick, but painstaking decisions to basically defend, or attack. To attack, push forward with all your countries power, and proclaim war one might say, is the right thing to do. In the opposing side, it takes a lot of courage and dignity to say “No”. Peace has been something a lot of countries and citizens of those countries have been fighting countless hours and years for, and with that one quick decision to attack, so many people’s hopes and dreams can come crashing down in a second.

When September 11, 2011 happened it had a dramatic effect on our country. We were completely blindsided by Afghanistan’s al-Qaeda, whose leader Osama Bin Laden, lead a terrorist attack on the United States. Our country was forced to make a decision, and after we got back on our feet, seven days later Former US president Bush, signed the joint resolution and began sending troops over to invade Afghanistan. In my opinion, this “War” had some justification to it. As a strong united country, we cannot be attacked and do nothing about it. President Bush’s decision to attack Afghanistan was the right thing to do. It had a reasonable cause, and after a short two months the Taliban was forced to retreat.

This should have been the end of it. We sought after revenge and took down the rebel group that attacked our country. It was a means to an end, and in my opinion, after we established a peace that should have been it. In March of 2002, the United States shifted their focus on another rebel rousing country Iraq. The US was given notice of “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, and 12 months later President Bush issued troops to invade Iraq, in hopes of finding and dismantling these weapons. Another priority was to take down Saddam Hussein and his regime. A lot of people believe that the United State Government used this as an excuse to send over military in hopes of finding oil. Since oil is one of the major importing and exporting products in the world and is very sought after, we could take advantage of the invasion of Iraq and take as much oil as we could to help finically support or “War on Terror”.

As the years of fighting and invasions continue, the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” never came about. People were starting to ask questions and began questioning the Presidents motive. The “War on Terror” in Iraq started to go downhill, as the country kept digging itself into deeper and deeper debt, and had nothing to show for it. This invasion had somewhat of an obscure reason going into it, and it seemed to have no end in sight.

To date, there has been a total amount of 4,287 US Military causalities in Iraq. This long drawn out invasion has had little to show for it. In Afghanistan, we aimed to defend and reestablish peace, and to take down terrorist that attacked our country in 2001. It had a cause and had a means to an end. In Iraq, I believe our sights going into the war were set on taking down Saddam Hussein and his corrupt officials. As the war went on, our intensions shifted into something else entirely.

War can sometimes, in strict situations, be justified by having a strong outlook and it the long run, must be sought after reestablishing peace amongst other countries. War cannot be something we create and make the first decision to go into. War must be a last resort. As a country of high power, we must always seek to find peace between foreign and domestic countries. It is said best by an artist who died at a young age, “All we are saying is give Peace a chance”.