Trump's War on Terror May Prove Even More Catastrophic Than George W. Bush's
President Donald Trump took to the podium at Fort Myer military base in Arlington, Virginia to tell the world that the war in Afghanistan will continue.
“[A] hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum for terrorists, including ISIS and Al Qaeda,” the president said. Despite his own reservations, which were reiterated during the speech, America will forge ahead with military action.
The president doesn’t appear to know that U.S. military action is largely responsible for the emergence of ISIS as it exists today. The continued success of ISIS relies on an extensive propaganda operation that routinely uses violent U.S. military actions as recruitment tools.
Trump’s speech itself was a boost for ISIS. He strengthened the terror group by describing it as a powerful and evil force that must be obliterated through armed conflict. ISIS leaders needn’t create a propaganda ad around Trump’s speech. They can just play the tape.
President Barack Obama's role in prolonging and exacerbating the conflict in Afghanistan can not be easily dismissed. Shortly after assuming office in 2009, he too approved a troop increase to fight the Taliban. Like Trump, he assured the public at the time that the United States military would not be given a "blank check." The war in Afghanistan, whose initial invasion began in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, is now the longest running military conflict in American history.
But the president's address Monday took us back to the language of fighting a war on evildoers, the same ignorant approach President George W. Bush used as he inadvertently fostered the growth of what would soon become globally known as ISIS.
Trump does distinguish himself from Bush through a visceral disgust for nation-building. Trump doesn’t care about the world beyond his backyard. Building democracies is as far down his to-do list as publicly producing his tax returns. Instead, Trump just wants to blow the heads off of terrorists, oblivious to the fact that this strategy had failed time and again.
Though U.S. nation-building has proven a fool’s errand, Trump’s violence-only approach is perhaps even worse from a humanitarian perspective. What do we do with the civilians after we obliterate ISIS in various regions? ISIS often controls civilian access to basic survival needs. Under Trump, American forces may decimate the infrasructures citizens rely upon for survival without any meaningful strategy to ensure their wellbeing. We know this president won't be welcoming displaced citizens as refugees to the U.S.
Trump's speech managed exhibited a basic failure of moral leadership while aping the kind of moralistic language used to drum up support for violent military actions. But unlike one of his stupid tweets, Trump's carefully prepared speech may signal a death sentence for civilians and troops who deserve better from us.
We should be ashamed.
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