The
Middle East, also known as the Near East, is a region made up of the lands of
Southwestern Asia and Northwestern Africa. The Middle East encompasses several
countries. However, the countries that we are most familiar with are Iran,
Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria. Other areas like the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip are also in the news a lot. It is a known fact that there has never been
lasting peace in the Middle East; even before Moses. These countries have
rarely, if ever, gotten along with each other. It has been this way for well
over two thousand years. The United States, Great Britain, and the
United Nations, have sent troops to this region of the world on several different
occasions in an effort to restore peace. For world peace to exist in the Middle
East forced long-term occupation, marshal law, and a conditional government is
an absolute certainty.
Most
of the fighting in the Middle East is over land and religious differences. In
this region most of its population practice Islam and Judaism. The majority of
the fighting in the last two centuries has been between the Arabs who are
Muslim and Israel who follow Judaism. This struggle started in the early 1900’s
over control of Palestine. This was an area that the Arabs had occupied for
many years. In the late eighteen hundreds Jews moved into the area in large
numbers. This was brought on by European intellectuals who began supporting the
idea that Jews should settle in Palestine, which is described in the Bible as
the Jews ancient homeland.
This
movement became known as Zionism, and was based on European Anti-Semitism.
This hatred toward the Jews resulted in violent attacks against them. Palestine
at that time was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which was centered in modern
day Turkey. In the beginning the Jews and the Muslims lived in peace and got
along. However, as more Jewish immigrants move in they started having
conflicts. The United Kingdom gained control as a result of World War I, and
then as a result of the Holocaust and World War II most of the countries that
defeated Germany supported the idea of creating a place where Jews would be
safe from persecution. In November of 1947 the United Nations approved a plan
to divide Palestine in to two states. One Jewish (which became Israel) and the
other Palestinian, Zionist leaders accepted the plan after all half was better
than nothing.
Arab governments and the Palestinians saw this as a theft of Arab
land. British rule over Palestine ended in 1948. The very next day Egypt,
Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Iraq attacked Israel. Israel fought back and
absorbed most of the land that the UN had set aside for them. Palestine, Egypt
and Jordan occupied the rest of the area. The war ended in 1949. As a result
seven hundred thousand Palestinians became refugees. There was the Suez Canal
crisis in 1956. Then more conflict in 1967, When, Gamal Abdel Nasser the ruler
of Egypt closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping. This was Israel’s only
access to the Red Sea. In 1973 we have even more conflict as Israeli and
Egyptian troops attack each other across the western border of the Sinai
Peninsula. These conflicts keep going. Treaties are signed and broken
throughout this same time period. As we can see, these countries just cannot
get along for love nor money, oil, land, or anything else for that matter.
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Over
the last three thousand years this region has fallen under the rule of several,
different, Empires .The Assyrians, from what is now Northern Iraq. Then the
Medes, what is now northern Iran. The Persians came from what is now Iran and
Afghanistan. In 331B.C The Macedonian King Alexander the Great conquered the
Middle East. In 30 B.C the Romans had conquered most of the Middle East. During
Roman rule Jesus Christ was born, Christianity became the major religion up
until the 600’sA.D Along about 610 A.D the Muslim religion was born. Various
groups gained control of different parts of the Middle East. The Turks,
European Christians in, 1096, and Mongols from Central Asia invaded in the
1200’s and again in the 1400’s. The Ottoman Empire was the worlds most powerful
of Empires during the 1500's-1600’s during this period they tried to conquer
Europe twice attacking Vienna and Austria. They were basically overthrown by
Franc, Italy and the United Kingdom. This region of the world has been ruled,
over-ruled, conquered again and again. They have never really known what peace
is. It is time to do something and take action, an action that should have
happened sixty years ago.
A
lot of people oppose this war that we are in and rightly so, no one in his or
her right mind enjoys war. The reality of it is that even if these countries
did not have weapons of mass destruction, they do possess the knowledge on how
to build one. And more than likely they have the various components to assemble
it. If they don’t they know how to get them. The United States over the years
has realized along with other nations that these types of weapons are never a
good answer to diplomatic problems. That, there is not a problem that cannot be
talked about first before the use of strategic arms are used to directly wipe
out critical defense and storage locations. When talking has led us nowhere,
this is why we are there today.
Some
people feel that it is there country their problem just let them fight it out.
That is good idea and maybe we should but that takes us back the misuse of
weapons of mass destruction. It is the opinion of some that all we are going to
do is create more hostility over there toward Americans thus creating more
terrorist attacks. Oddly enough there has not been any more terrorist attacks
on U.S soil since 9/11 and our invasion of Afghanistan and then into Iraq. In
the past countries have over ruled the Middle East out greed and the thirst for
power if the U.S. were to do this it would strictly be to preserve world peace
and the spread of democracy. It is my belief that the United States may have
made an error in judgment. Instead of having a few bombing raids to clean out
critical defense locations, to gain their attention We should have gone in and
leveled every single building that even looked like it was being used by the military
every palace. All there planes, motor pools, and anything that resembled a
military vehicle.
Once
we had defeated them and wore them down then send in the ground troops to flush
the guerrillas and any combatants that might not have gotten the word
that there was a new government in town. War is messy you are going to
lose a few troops. Think about it this way if we had taken these action years
ago, how many lives would we have saved on both sides. Would 9/11 or Lockerbie
have ever happened. When law and order is restored then you seize their
assets. The oil wells, the refineries, factories, farms, weapons, and other
valuable state owned properties. Impose Marshall Law and establish curfews.
Then assess the damages and take inventory of what you have to work with.
Establish a conditional government and start the rebuilding process.
The long term occupation would need to be at least one hundred years. The
reason for the one hundred year occupation is because it will take the life of
at least two generations of peace to instill the younger generations with the
desire to maintain peace. As for creating more hostility the biggest majority
of the population, already dislike the United States and that is putting it
kindly. Most of these attitudes of discontentment toward Americans are
instilled in the younger generation through the elders. The one hundred year
occupation would help to eliminate this over time
Some
will say that this whole idea is absurd that we do not have the strength, fire
power, or the man power to undertake such an operation of this nature. I for
one really believe that we do. It would definitely take everything that we had
at this moment. But just as we did during World War II and other wars, you gear
up; you prepare before hand, and create a surplus of arms and weaponry. So that
you are ready for a long and dangerous fight. Some would say that this makes us
just as bad as the other empires that have come before us. Going in peacefully
would be nice. But I highly doubt that if we just go marching in to these
countries and tell them that in an effort to have world peace we are here to
take over your country and teach you about how to maintain a peaceful
existence. And once we have done this we will turn it back over to you in one
hundred years. They are not going to be very accepting of our generosity.
In
2011 Obama made it clear that the U.S. would pull all troops out of Iraq by the
end of the year. He had to do something after all 2012 was an election year. It
was obvious that he was not worried about Iraq. Even after top military leaders
and a handful of senators had advised President Obama against pulling all of
the troops out of Iraq. After almost nine years of fighting in Iraq we pulled
out. During that nine year stretch we ousted Saddam Hussein from power at the
loss of almost 4500 American troops and an estimated price tag of $700 Billion.
While Iraq lost tens of thousands of citizens, Perhaps if we had gone in from
the very beginning and taken over we would have lost only half as
many brave men and women at a far-less price tag. Not to mention the
fact that the United States could have recouped some of
its expenses after seizing government assets such as oil and gas
fields.
If
this were to happen it could be a good thing for all the countries involved.
Because, some of the medical facilities that these countries have are lacking
Doctors from the United States could do there residency there providing better
medical care than they have probably had in the past. Gas prices in the United
States would drop and possibly stabilize for once. It would open the doors for
the expansion in all kinds of jobs Teachers, medical professions, Businesses,
and engineers just to mention a few. As time passed we would gradually
give them back some of the power to govern themselves. Helping them to build a
democratic society as time passed, supposedly we are trying to do this in Iraq
already. This helps but it won’t be near as effective as
having the three or four countries that have the biggest problem getting
along with each other, all getting the same indoctrination simultaneously.
Because the minute we leave Iraq It is all going to start all over again. Iran,
Israel, Jordan, Syria, stubborn insurgents allied with Shi'ite Militiamen and Al Quaeda forces. Either by themselves or as a group will start
something.
History will repeat
itself because
this is all they know. As for those who say we have no business there I
disagree. As long as they are fighting in the Middle East, other countries in
the world are not safe from the affects of their inability to get along. We
have lost enough young men and women to their so called causes. I know that
this will probably never take place but until it does happen, or something else
of the same magnitude occurs, world peace remains nothing more than a sweet dream.
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