An American philosopher named George Santayana once interestingly stated: “Those who cannot remember the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat it.” With this same philosophical idea proposed by George Santayana, the study of our nation’s history and foreign policy efforts should be used as a lesson to guide any future behavior on how the United States should deal with the threat ISIS presents because of the clear thread that exists between the past and present. The same gap of communication and lack of understanding of different cultures, values and histories that brought destruction and instability during the Philippines-American War and Vietnam War, gave birth to the Islamic State because of an ignorance that prevented the US from correctly
…show more content…
During his first two weeks in power, Paul Bremer issued two controversial decisions that set a wrong tone for Iraqis who took his power as a sign that their lives would not really change. The first, “De-Baathification of Iraqi society,” banned many members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from holding governmental positions. Through this decision, Paul Bremer was unable to see the reality of the situation and the political culture of the region; many members of the Baath party did not join the party because they shared in the same beliefs, but rather they joined because during Saddam’s regime Baath political members received the highest-paying jobs. His second decision, “CPA Order No. 2” disbanded the entire Iraqi military. After the fall of Saddam’s power, there was no force of power that could control the madness and instability that ensued, creating rebellion and a lot of disorderly conduct the US was responsible for because they took away the regulatory power that could control such situations. Both of these decisions contributed to the creation of “half a million angry, armed, unemployed Iraqis in 48 …show more content…
In an article titled “America Can’t Do Much About ISIS” published by The Atlantic, the author reveals the importance to reduce poverty because it limits people’s desires to do extreme and radical things: “The greater the misery among dispossessed, poorly housed, poorly fed populations, the greater the anger that can fuel terrorism and the less prone such populations and expatriate communities in the West will be to assist Western counterterrorism efforts.” The author makes the interesting point that “the anger that can fuel [the] terrorism [ISIS operates upon]” is brought by the “misery” of “dispossessed, poorly housed, poorly fed populations.” In this way, terrorism is a source of poverty because it forces people to act out their hopelessness and desperation through violent means. Thus, as a way to get rid of ISIS, humanitarian efforts must be implemented to relieve the hardships of these people’s lives. Furthermore, in wars against terrorism, violence is not only present on the battlefield, but rather it spreads to communities of innocent families. Thus, the United States should look to provide support to neighboring countries, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey, as a way to assist regional powers in providing
During his first two weeks in power, Paul Bremer issued two controversial decisions that set a wrong tone for Iraqis who took his power as a sign that their lives would not really change. The first, “De-Baathification of Iraqi society,” banned many members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from holding governmental positions. Through this decision, Paul Bremer was unable to see the reality of the situation and the political culture of the region; many members of the Baath party did not join the party because they shared in the same beliefs, but rather they joined because during Saddam’s regime Baath political members received the highest-paying jobs. His second decision, “CPA Order No. 2” disbanded the entire Iraqi military. After the fall of Saddam’s power, there was no force of power that could control the madness and instability that ensued, creating rebellion and a lot of disorderly conduct the US was responsible for because they took away the regulatory power that could control such situations. Both of these decisions contributed to the creation of “half a million angry, armed, unemployed Iraqis in 48 …show more content…
In an article titled “America Can’t Do Much About ISIS” published by The Atlantic, the author reveals the importance to reduce poverty because it limits people’s desires to do extreme and radical things: “The greater the misery among dispossessed, poorly housed, poorly fed populations, the greater the anger that can fuel terrorism and the less prone such populations and expatriate communities in the West will be to assist Western counterterrorism efforts.” The author makes the interesting point that “the anger that can fuel [the] terrorism [ISIS operates upon]” is brought by the “misery” of “dispossessed, poorly housed, poorly fed populations.” In this way, terrorism is a source of poverty because it forces people to act out their hopelessness and desperation through violent means. Thus, as a way to get rid of ISIS, humanitarian efforts must be implemented to relieve the hardships of these people’s lives. Furthermore, in wars against terrorism, violence is not only present on the battlefield, but rather it spreads to communities of innocent families. Thus, the United States should look to provide support to neighboring countries, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey, as a way to assist regional powers in providing