Next Stop, Syria

 by Anthony Karnowski  

The American society that we as citizens have cherished all of our lives is in danger. The current administration is doing everything they can to keep the people of this nation in the dark about their true motives. They have lied, blatantly and subtly, about their reasons for war in the Middle East, and the worst part is that most of our citizens either don’t realize this, or they simply don’t care.  

The war with Iraq is over. Our leaders took our military into a country that was not a threat to us and obliterated the helpless civilians there in order promote “U.S. interests.” Personally, I have no interests in Iraq , other than my friends who are currently stationed there. But before Bush sent them to die for a cause that no one can even name, I had no interests in Iraq. And judging by the way Bush and his cronies have changed their reasons from disarmament to aiding terrorist factions to regime change, it seems as though they are hard pressed to give a legitimate reason for the deaths of our troops.  

Shouldn’t the Administration have been a bit clearer about their reasons for entering Iraq? Shouldn’t they have said they were sending in the troops to promote their interests? No matter how you look at it, they sent our brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers to Iraq to fight and die so they could line their and their friends’ pockets.  

And now that the illegal war is over, and most of the lucrative contracts have been handed to American corporations, what’s the next step in the plan? Why, to invade Syria, of course. Before our forces had even reached Baghdad , Rumsfeld was already picking a fight with Syria . He threatened them by saying they would be held accountable if it was found that they were assisting Iraq. Bush accused them on Sunday night of possessing chemical weapons, and now Rumsfeld has reportedly ordered the invasion plans for Syria to be drawn up.  

Am I alone in thinking these people are completely crazy? Seriously, what the hell are they thinking? We have just come out of an illegal war that has changed most of the world’s opinion of us, and now they want to start another one?  

Is there really anyone in this nation of ours that is truly secure with being seen by the rest of the international community as a rogue state? It seems as though the Bush administration has become very comfortable in the fact that we are the supreme military force on the planet. So comfortable that they seem to be hoping to take on the entire world at the same time.  

If we invade Syria, we will no longer be fighting against one lone country that has no chance of defeating us. No, will be fighting the rest of the Middle East. And then the rest of the world will line up against us.  

After September 11 we were in a position to do so much good. We had most of the international community’s sympathy as well as their support to battle terrorism. But somewhere along the way, we decided we didn’t need anyone else’s help, and have since broken down our relations with countries that have been long-time friends. And through the process of all of this, we are carefully planting the seeds for new terrorist factions to flourish.  

Can anyone give any hard evidence that Iraq had anything to do with September 11? How about Syria? The last I heard, the al Qaeda organization was responsible for that one. So then, why are we focusing our attention on nations that had nothing to do with the attacks? Why didn’t we enlist their help to track down these terrorists and make the entire world safer? Why on earth are we attacking them and in the process creating more terrorists? Because the Bush regime, despite what it tells us, want terrorism to thrive.  

As long as there are terrorists threatening the security of the U.S. , they can continue to strip us of our rights in the name of National Security. As long as there are terrorists, they can up our military spending. As long as there are terrorists, the majority of the American populace is scared, and that is exactly how they want us.