Written by Miguel Jimenez   

It is very understandable for people, well, at least those with a soul or any sense of human compassion, to be appalled when they see innocent civilians, especially children, used as targets during a time of war. Whether it is chemical or conventional weapons that are utilized for such a purpose, it is never justifiable. Therefore, I can certainly understand why there are people who agree with President Obama’s call for military action in Syria. As an Iraq War veteran, the things that still bother me ten years later is when I recall the atrocities that fellow Marines committed against Iraqi civilians. For instance, there were times when I was so angry that I wanted to act as Sergeant Elias (William Dafoe) did in the movie Platoon (1) when he butt stroked (hitting a person with the butt of a rifle) Sergeant Barnes (Tom Beranger) in the face for killing an innocent Vietnamese civilian. However, unlike the righteous Sgt., I never mustered the courage to act out my intentions. So, in essence, I understand the outrage over the chemical attack, but I do not agree with the notion that the core reason for going to war is based on a humanitarian cause, nor that intervening militarily will improve the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

As an undergraduate, I had a professor, Rodolfo Acuna, who after discussing the controversial comments that were made by Obamas’ former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, stated that the "U.S. had no moral authority over any nation." Although he provided various examples of why this was case, the ones that I recall most vividly were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After hearing the aforementioned phrase in class, it resonated with me and this is something I definitely take into consideration whenever I analyze U.S. foreign policy or how it is often portrayed in the mainstream media—the U.S.’s benevolent crusade for democracy around the world.

Although I agree with the notion that the U.S. has no moral authority over any nation, there have definitely been brave soldiers who have risked their lives for the sake of humanity. If we take the Mai Lai Massacre (1967) into consideration, Army Warrant Officer One Hugh Thompson Jr’s bravery, not only saved the lives of innocent Vietnamese civilians, his actions also helped expose the atrocities that were being committed during the Vietnam War. As a result of Thompson’s and his helicopter crew’s actions, there were several U.S. officers and enlisted personnel who were charged with crimes associated with the atrocity. However, only Second Lieutenant William Calley was convicted.

Fast-forward to 2013, we had a similar scenario occur with the trial and conviction of Army whistle blower Private Bradley Manning. However, unlike Warrant Officer Thompson’s experience, the soldiers that Manning exposed committing atrocities were not sent to trial. Instead, Manning was condemned for exposing our government’s hypocrisy—wars are justified based on the need for humanitarian crusades, yet, our government perpetuates atrocities throughout the globe.

According to the implicit logic, it would seem that the Apache helicopter pilots in the infamous Wikileaks’ video would have been charged with a crime if they would have killed their victims with chemical weapons instead of shooting them with 50 caliber bullets. I guess it is perfectly fine to shoot civilians with bullets that were designed to pierce armored vehicles or to annihilate them with bombs. But we draw the line with chemical weapons.

Furthermore, if using chemical weapons on civilian populations causes such moral outrage among our government, why does our military employ these weapons on civilians? For example, during the Iraq War white phosphorus and depleted uranium—a toxic and radioactive nuclear waste product —were used on Iraqi civilians. As a result of the latter, it has been reported that in the city of Fallujah, more than half of new born babies are born with some type of birth defect (2). Also, diseases such as cancer have increased dramatically throughout Iraq (3). Where is our government’s moral outrage for these people? And let us not fool ourselves because Iraq was not the first war where chemical weapons were used on civilians. Does Agent Orange ring a bell? It certainly does for Vietnamese people and our own troops who fought in Vietnam because they were sprayed with what “contained dioxin, one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man. It has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a carcinogen (causes cancer) and by the American Academy of Medicine as a teratogen (causes birth defects) (4).

Besides our government’s hypocrisy with the issue of chemical weapons, we really have to ask if U.S. involvement will improve the humanitarian crisis in Syria. For instance, it was not too long ago that we ousted Saddam Hussein from power. Although he was a despot—one that we enabled to power (5)—can we really say that our invasion really improved the humanitarian dilemma in Iraq? After all, the war which was based on a lie has caused the deaths of about 125,000 civilians (6). And we also have to take into consideration the countless lives we ruined, the destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure, and the ongoing violence that persist as a direct result of our invasion and occupation.

Moreover, how will the Syrian people react to our involvement in their conflict? If there is one thing that history has shown us, is that a divided nation can unite against a foreign enemy. Chris Hedges provides an example of how this scenario has occurred:

The military junta that ruled Argentina, and was responsible for killing 20,000 of its own citizens during the ‘Dirty War,’ in 1982 invaded the Falkland Islands, which the Argentines called the Malvinas. The junta, which had been on the verge of collapse and beset by violent street demonstrations and nationwide strikes in the weeks before the war, instantly became the saviors of the country. Labor union and opposition leaders, some of whom were still visibly bruised from beatings, were hauled out of jail cells before cameras to repeat what was a collective mantra: ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’ (7).

Then we have the question of who are the rebels? This is important when there are two known rebel groups—the Nusra Front and the Islamic State—with ties to Al-Qaeda (8). If this was not a major issue on its own, we have to take into consideration that as a military force, the U.S. is notorious for producing collateral damage, or more bluntly stated, killing civilians. I really doubt that someone who loses a loved one as a result of an U.S. air strike is going to be waving an American flag and singing Yankee Doodle.

As a nation, the last thing we need is another war, especially one based on the false premise of a humanitarian mission. If our government was so concerned with human rights, it would do more to stop violating them. Furthermore, involving ourselves in the conflict may make the situation worse and fuel anti-U.S. sentiment. I am pretty sure it already exists among certain factions that make up the Syrian rebel army. The last thing we need is for this type of sentiment to spread among Syrians. Nevertheless, I recall when I had a conversation with an Iraqi civilian in Iraq. He began talking to me about Saddam and the war. The man was pleased that Saddam was no longer in power, but he did state that we were not in Iraq to help the Iraqi people; we were there for the oil. And in the case of Syria, albeit, the Obama administration is touting its would be “humanitarian” crusade, there are people who know that our concern for Syria is based more on geopolitics—gaining hegemonic influence in the region—than for a sincere concern for the victims of the chemical attack (9).

References
1. Oliver, S. (Director). (1986). Platoon [motion picture] United States: Orion Pictures.

2. Alani, F. (Director). Fallujah: A lost generation [documentary]

3. Messamore, W. (2013). 10 chemical attacks US doesn’t want you to talk about. Press TV.

4. Mirre, J. and Cohn, M. (2012) The toxic effects of Agent Orange persist 51 years after the Vietnam War. Truthout.

5. Perkins, J.(2007). The secret history of the American Empire: The truth about economic hit men, jackals, and how to change the world. New York: Penguin Books.

6. Iraq Body Count

7. Hedges, C. (2002). War is a force that gives us meaning. New York: Anchor Books.

8. Chivers, C. (2013). Brutality of Syrian rebels posing dilemma in west. The New York Times.

9. Fieldman, J. (2013). Why is the left confused about bombing Syria? Counter Punch.