TO THE EDITOR:
The recent Daily Tar Heel article discussing U.S. intervention in Syria reflects the bias apparent in U.S. media in favor of constant interventionism. All but one of the sources referenced in the article pushed for war in Iraq and Syria. Totally missing was any mention of the constitutional implications of the airstrikes or how Obama’s actions betray his promises to end the Iraq War.
The warmongers in America’s commentary class have had their way in foreign policy for over a decade, and the result has been an unmitigated litany of disaster.
This has cost trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of military and civilian lives, fostering hatred and resentment that won’t fade for generations. In the backdrop of endless conflict, Americans’ constitutional freedoms and privacy have come under sustained assault like never before. Hardly anyone denies that Islamic State’s fighters are murderous barbarians, but the group poses no direct threat to the U.S. homeland, as no intelligence group has produced evidence of planned attacks. ISIS’ small and impoverished “territory” is thousands of miles away, and the group’s fighters are no match for any non-failed state.
Furthermore, why should capable countries actually threatened by the group, like Turkey or Iran, stop the Islamic State if the U.S. government will pick up the slack for them? The Pentagon cannot slay every monster on planet earth. Further intervention takes defense resources away from U.S. territory and provides endless impetus for recruiting terrorist fighters. It’s time for the U.S. to militarily disengage from the region.
Zach Rachuba
Class of ’16
Young Americans for Liberty
