The Pitfalls of American Interventionism

The United States has been feeling the effects of Middle Eastern terrorism since June 5th, 1968, when Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian acting alone, shot and killed Senator Robert F. Kennedy in response to some pro-Israeli statements he made (Eland 10). United States support for the newly formed Israel had garnered a lot of hatred from native Palestinians, and Sirhan’s attack marked the beginning of anti-American sentiment in the region. Starting with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the United States had been interfering in the Middle East, using Iran as a base for anti-Soviet operations. Over the years, U.S relations with the Middle East soured, leading CIA-trained operatives to form terrorist organizations. President George H. W. Bush sparked the Middle Eastern powder keg with Operation Desert Storm, the beginning of the first Gulf War. The two Gulf Wars, and American interventionism in its entirety, lead to our current disillusionment with war, the creation of terrorist cells throughout the Middle East that constantly threaten American citizens, and multiple economic downturns, including the 2008 financial crisis.

Many people argue that terrorist activity was not caused by US intervention, that it was merely a by-product of a clash between two divided cultures (Eland 3). Indeed, President Bill Clinton even addressed this in a speech to the United Nations, “Some people believe that terrorism’s principal fault line centers on what they see as an inevitable clash of civilizations…Western civilization and Western values, and Islamic civilizations and values”(4). A common argument is that terrorists, Islamic terrorists especially, attack America because they are jealous of what it is; they are unable to accept the happiness of others. ...

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...reign policy of avoiding military engagements, the American people can once again return to a far more peaceful time in which one does not have to fear terrorist attacks.

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Eland, Ivan. "Does U.S. Intervention Overseas Breed Terrorism." Foreign Policy Briefing. Vol. 50. N.p.: CATO Institute, 1998. 3-15. Print.

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