Beware the Drumbeat of War

Do not listen

The United States is at war again, and this new war will once again be fought in two different nations. Word is coming out of Washington DC right now that says the US is conducting bombing strikes in Syria. At the same time, President Trump, with a lot of help from the media, is getting Americans excited about military action against North Korea. Regardless of what we hear, US military involvement is still continuing in Afghanistan and Iraq. With these new conflicts, the American people will now have to sacrifice more blood to fight a battle on four fronts. We can accept this.

The case for war in Syria intensified this week after the world learned of the horrible chemical attacks that killed 70 people. The images were horrifying. Many people on the left and right sides of the political spectrum condemned the attack and said the US should respond in some way. President Trump promised that he would do something, and bombing the civil war torn nation seems to be his first shot. 

The situation in Syria has been terrible for over six years. The pictures the world saw this week are part of a mosaic that goes back to the beginning of the crisis. President Trump, and the Republican War Hawks, did not care when dead children were washing up on Mediterranean beaches. They did not care when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was using chemical weapons on his own people for years. Now they care. Why?

The reason the United States had not earlier engaged in any major military action in Syria is because of Russia. President Vladimir Putin is allied with al-Assad, and any aggression towards the Syrian government could intensify problems with the Russians. Leave Syria alone, make Russia happy. This is the way politics has worked for all of civilized history. It is not kind, but it has kept the world out of many bloody global conflicts. Thinking people understand this trade off. 

Now things seem different. President Trump appears to be very eager to get involved in war with Syria. The propaganda says that relations with Russia do not seem to matter, because the United States cannot sit by as innocent Syrians are being gassed, even if we have sat by for the last six years. The media is playing up all the worst actions of the al-Assad government to get Americans fired up for war. Liberals on social media are crying out to save the children. War in Syria is going to happen. Again, why?

Donald Trump has not had the best start to his Presidency. The only time the media has been complimentary to Trump was when at an address to Congress, the President honored the widow of a recently killed Navy Seal. The DC pundits rushed to their twitter accounts, and cable news panel shows, to gush about Donald Trump being Presidential. With that event, Donald Trump learned that the media will support him if he goes to war. Trump desperately wants the media to like him. Since that moment in the US Capitol, President Trump has been looking to get involved in any military action, and the media has been banging the drum for the President.

The bombs being dropped in Syria were not the beginning of the drum beat. Terrible, fear mongering, stories about North Korea have been featured on all of the media for months now. Right wing thought leaders like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh have been talking about the terrible things North Korea could do to Hawaii. Their stories of potential terror line up exactly with what the White House has been pushing. Even left leaning news organizations like The Huffington Post and Vox have been writing articles about the foreignness, and evil, of North Korea. The case for war in North Korea has been presented to the American people long before any action in Syria. Because the drum beat for war in North Korea has been going on longer, and getting louder, many Americans will not be surprised when the fighting starts.

The media has a long, and dark, history of getting Americans on board with pointless wars the White House wants to engage in. The Spanish American War is most known for the term Yellow Journalism. The reporting of lies concerning the Gulf of Tonkin assured US involvement in Vietnam. More recently, the cheerleading by all of the media to get the United States in a second war with Saddam Hussein and Iraq has had horrible consequences to our military and national budget. Now the press, all of the press, is feeding the American people information so we can get on board with two new wars in Syria and North Korea.

The geopolitical consequences of unilateral, plus Great Britain, action in Syria and North Korea is dire. Russia may not do anything directly to the US, but they will continue to act in a way detrimental for NATO and the United States. China will probably not go to war with the United States, but they will continue to develop their markets and strategic partnerships in a way that harms the US economy. The weakening of US global influence that started with our ill conceived wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is only going to continue with our ill conceived aggression in Syria and North Korea. You will not read about that in any of the professional media, left or right wing. We will say it, war is not good for the United States.

We need to ignore the banging drums. These wars only exist as a way for the media and President Trump to get along, and start making money together. The DC pundits desperately want to legitimize Trump, that is dangerous. The President desperately wants favorable coverage from the press, that is narcissistic. Glenn Beck and Vox only want more internet traffic, that is unAmerican. These entities may not think they are causing harm, but they are. The lives that will be lost in these pointless conflicts will not affect the President, members of Congress, or anyone in the media. The people who beat the drums for war have no consequences. The call for war is about ego and money for the President and the media. We can not let them get away with this, again.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. We desperately want to know why you think war is needed right now.  Come tell us. 

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