US Involvement in the Middle East

My blog is going to be about the Middle Eastern conflict. I’m particularly going to cover terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), their activity, as well as US involvement. I find this topic interesting because whether we realize it or not our lives have been effected by the conflicts caused by these terrorist organizations. Another reason I chose to write my blog about the Middle Eastern conflict is because with all the media coverage of the presidential elections not enough people are caught up with what actually has been going on in the Middle East recently. The goal is to inform myself and my fellow peers on the differing views on whether we should pull out or continue our involvement along with giving reports on the current status of Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

This topic has been relevant since 2001 when Al Qaeda attacked America on our soil for the first time in a series of plane hijackings. Since 2001 we have seen an increase in TSA and NSA presence. Though it isn’t breaking headlines everyday anymore it is still an unfortunate reality there is groups that are willing to harm so many innocent people. A huge problem is that since a large population of Americans are uninformed on the situation they don’t think these groups are still a problem. It is commonly believed that conditions are getting better in the Middle East because of the military drawback. Since the drawback conditions have actually been worsening with ISIS moving back into Afghanistan and increasing suicide bombings.

This topic is controversial because everyone has a different opinion on how the US should deal with ISIS. Many people feel like the Middle Eastern conflict is a sinkhole for taxpayers money. These people agree that we should pull out our troops and end involvement. The supporters of a cutback feel like the national armies in these countries will be able to fight off ISIS but their wages are so low in the army the countries have a hard time even finding recruits. These people feel like the situation is a lost cause since its been dragging on for so many years. While it is expensive, a lot of Americans see ISIS for the threat they are and would love to see more involvement from the US military. If we keep letting them increase their strength they could attack us how Al Qaeda did on 9/11.

The situation in the Middle East is a complicated one. What makes it complicated is that these radical terrorist can be anyone. They blend in and live among communities making it extremely hard for our troops to distinguish who’s a terrorist and who’s a civilian. The civilians are also easily swayed to join terrorist groups for money. Most Middle Eastern countries are impoverished due to years of war. While the US involvement started only in 2001 there has been countless civil wars and imperial domination which caused all the instability in the Middle East. Since the governments haven’t been able to take care of their citizens, most natives are unsupportive and untrusting of the governments. This lack of cooperation makes it way more difficult to deal with terrorist groups as well as stabilize.

Another factor that is complicating the situation is how we have also lost civilian support. When our troops first arrived in the Middle East the civilians were excited to be liberated from these terrorist groups and to finally be receiving aid. Now that our troops have been there for so long breaking into houses, causing tons of collateral damage and dropping a bunch of drone missiles without much proof of improvement. We unintentionally made their situation worse in some cases.