James Dean

World Conflict Resolution

We live in a world where terrorism lurks around every ill-conceived stereotype. We live in a world where the government can get away with just about anything as long as a quick-tongued lawyer is nearby. We live in a world where a war can be called upon a faceless enemy, which perhaps only exists in the mind of one man. That man has taken his country into two different war zones, and spread a feeling of dissent around the world. Soldiers from all sides have died, civilians from all sides have died, and those who are left behind are forced to mourn the loss the rest of their lives. This is not the value of life portrayed in flowery campaign speeches and this is not the promise given when we see thumbs up and a pearly white smile. What is the matter here? When did the American people succumb to blind ignorance and let the veil of revenge cover their eyes? It was when two towers fell, and we as a people realized that life isn’t as safe and sound as we would like. It was when the American public realized what it feels like to lose loved ones to hate. In the midst of all this chaos and confusion, we have to start to wonder why here and why now? Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it seems that Israel was, and like any structure assembled without enough thought, there are bound to be problems.

On September 11, 2001, an act of terrorism was committed against the United States of America that was hailed as the Pearl Harbor of its time. Over 3,000 people lost their lives on that day, and as the smoke cleared a nation of people had banded together to mourn the loss. I walked down the suburban streets of my neighborhood to see a streaming mass of patriot flags waving, and the well-worn phrase “God Bless America." A similar sight undoubtedly unfolded throughout the maze of metal and concrete spanning the nation and like a new craze, this gripped the nation. In Washington, a storm began to grow as a culprit was named responsible for the attack, and the hate began.

Soon enough American troops were on the ground and fighting a brutal regime and taking glory for freeing the Afghani people. Now only a few short years after the short offensive against Taliban forces, American citizens are demanding the return of all troops and support from that region. Coincidentally, the Taliban is reported to be moving over 1,000 troops back into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan. Another major problem being blatantly overlooked in Afghanistan, of all things, are land mines. There are somewhere between five and seven million land mines buried in Afghan soil, mostly from Soviet occupation in the Cold War era. This seriously hampers any attempt to reconstruct this country’s natural resources, and on top of that, there are around 300 mine related injuries per month. The bottom line here is that something more than just simply ousting a government needs to be done. “Terrorists” aren’t born that way; human desperation and horrible circumstances create terrorism. Acts of violence are, in effect, generation upon generation of hate and frustration built up and let out in a last ditch effort to make the cause known to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the Americans’ revenge did not stop in Afghanistan.

On March 20, 2003, American led allied troops trampled into the country of Iraq. City after city fell to the might of the allies, as the generals gloated about the few lives being claimed. A valiant effort was made to save a number of captured prisoners of war including Private First Class Jessica Lynch from Palestine, West Virginia. That in itself was shrouded in controversy, a slightly blown-out-of-proportion story circulated through the media. But ultimately, once again a few key things are being left out of the public eye. First and most importantly: Iraqi death tolls. There is no official tally, and chances are there never will be. However, a private researching party is reporting up to 5,000 civilian deaths. This number could quickly balloon with new information coming in all the time. It’s expected that up to 10,000 innocent civilian deaths occurred during the time of war with the Iraqi government. Three different studies said that between 1,700 and 2,356 civilians died in the battle for Baghdad alone. Even if it were possible to overlook those deaths, another crucial problem exists. This war was to be fought with the intentions of bringing stability to the Middle East.

Long before “Iraqi Freedom,” “The War on Terror,” and all of this nonsense, began a conflict of an epic proportion. The second Great War had just come and gone. Over 6,000,000 Jews had been murdered at the hands of Hitler and his Nazis, and over 56,000,000 lives in total were taken. In 1945, the world had sustained two world wars, and was exhausted of death, but this was just the beginning. The Middle East was just forming its current boundaries, and the Jews wanted a land to call their own. Palestine was to become a Jewish Commonwealth under the authority of the British and under the blessing of other world powers such as the US and USSR. And so, on May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was born, and on May 15, the Arab league declared its invasion of Palestine that happens to be right in the middle of Israel. This happened because Israel was never acknowledged as anything by any of its neighbors. In other words, Britain gave land that it had acquired through imperialistic gains to the Jews. The land itself however, was inhabited by a large Islamic population, and was considered by most – if not all - surrounding states to be Islamic territory. The formal war between Israel ended quickly as Israel crushed her enemies, however, even after many cease-fires and peace treaties were signed, arguing and fighting continued between Israelis and the Arab States. Bringing us back to today, where after sixty years of fighting has brewed into generation upon generation of hate. The United States has been seen time and time again to be an ally of Israel and its cause, and therefore is seen as an enemy of Islam and the Arab States, this in its essence is what causes the hatred towards America.

In the end, the cycle of hatred will cyclone its way along, growing larger and larger as time goes by. And now America has once again added its own devastation into the fray of endless madness. Is there a solution to this problem? In all honesty, the solution is as simple as erasing the hatred and anger of a people that know nothing but the misery that war brings. The solution is fixing a problem that is thousands of years old. Its as simple as forgetting the anguish of losing a loved one, and to quit being so selfish as to want revenge on a people that have been feeling this pain their entire lives. “God bless America”? Why dose America deserve another blessing, when all we’ve done is spread hate and death? “United we stand?” What do we stand for? Revenge on a people that we already blindly destroyed? America has received from the world what it has given to the world. Isn’t it time we gave something worth receiving?