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Mitchell Peterson
Ms. Bucaria
English 1010
12 December 2015
The Never Ending Conflict

We have been in the Middle East fighting for over fourteen years as a country. Why have
we been over there so long? Is there even an end in sight. The war on terror is more complicated
than any war we have fought, and the longer it drags on, the more money we spend as a nation.
Obviously we aren't doing things right if we have been fighting in the Middle East longer than
World War One, and World War Two combined. We should cut our losses and pull out
immediately, or hit them with a force they have never seen. War is not a game, it is very serious,
therefore we should take it as. We are treating it as if it were a game. Airstrikes aren't going to
solve anything. We need action. That can either mean annihilating ISIS and all of its members, or
withdrawing and go on a strong defensive.
The average American doesn't want to see anymore troops deployed to the Middle East.
This is probably because of all of the filth involved in the war over there. According to , majority
of the deaths are civilians caught in the middle. This war seems a whole like the war in Vietnam.
There wasn't a reason clear as crystal why we were exactly over in the Middle East, just like
Vietnam. The enemy was very hard to distinguish between the people, just like in Vietnam. War
in the Middle East seems to be dragging on longer than it should, just like Vietnam. Before going
into the Middle East, we didn't empathize with the enemy just like in Vietnam. The only two
major differences between the two are how many people died, and the draft was instituted for
Vietnam. If the war on terror continues the way it is, the difference will continue to shrink. Let's

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not let this war continue on the path it's going down, let's begin to fix it now. Change is the only
way we are to accomplish that.
What's the point of continuing things the way we are? W.J. Hennigan in U.S. Vows to
Stay Course in Iraq says When President Obama launched the campaign against Islamic state in
Iraq and Syria, he stressed that U.S. troops would not take a combat roll on the ground, but
instead deliver airstrikes well that's great! Not risking American lives a whole lot. Is it really
good news? In a way yes, but are the bombings even getting us anywhere? No. No they are not.
If you've been watching the news, you'll know we've successfully bombed a hospital without
borders this last October killing many innocent people. This was due to misinformation and
confusion. How long would these bombings even take to get some real work done in the war?
Ken Dilanian from Post and Courier states it could take more than a decade or more to drive the
Islamic State from its safe havens analysts say. Do you want to continue fighting this war for
another decade? I sure as hell don't! Something needs to change, what we are doing is
ineffective. The definition of insane is doing the same thing over and over and expecting change.
We are insane to try to take on terror the way we are.
There is obvious change that needs to happen in the Middle East. They have a lot of
problems they are dealing with, but are we the ones to initiate that change? Many of the people
those countries do not enjoy our presence, and may view it as if we are poking our nose where it
doesn't belong. Andrew J. Bacevich in United States, Bystander says They (People living in the
Middle East) don't need us to liberate them. They are perfectly capable of liberating
themselves. And their doing so basically doesn't cost the American taxpayer a nickel. If they
want help they will ask us for it. Us being over there seems to be causing many problems,
without fixing any. One of those problems is money. War is expensive, and every day we spend

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there, we are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. With a country already in debt, we
should be conserving. There are some flags raised when we talk about withdrawing from the
Middle East. There is a great chance that in certain areas, terrorist organizations cout take over. If
this happens, we as a nation should be preparing more and more everyday. If the terrorists a
substantial force, they could try to go toe to toe with us. Let them build up a stronghold, so we
know where to find them. Let them build a face, so we know where to hit them.
We should not be shrinking the size of our military, but may look into increasing it. ISIS
is growing in numbers everyday, and we need to focus on rooting out these terrorists in our
nation, and cleanse it of all corruption. Just as important as building a strong defensive force, we
need to focus on electing honest, hard working officials. We need people that will lead our
country to posterity and get us out of pickle we have found ourselves in. It's going to be a long
ball game, and we are not out of the woods by any means. Rudolph W. Giuliani in The Islamist
Menace Shadowing This Sept. 11 says the terrorists have enlisted members who are even more
diverse, cunning, and determined. That is why we need to go on the defensive. He continues on
stating U.S. military and intelligence capacity must not be drastically cut as proposed by this
administration (Obamas administration). It should be drastically increased. If we are not going
to roll out and destroy them with an awesome amount of power, we need to go on the defensive.
What we are doing now is just stirring the hornet's nest. We either need to back off and regroup
as a nation, or hit them where it hurts. These airstrikes we are rolling out arent getting anyone
anywhere, they are just putting off the inevitable, and spending american tax dollars in the
process. War isn't won just solely on airstrikes, you need to come at the enemy in many different
ways. If you only use one form of attack, the enemy will learn how to defend it, and your attacks

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will be very useless. The reason why World War 2 didnt last as long as this war on terror is
because we didnt mess around, like how we are.
The issues involved with The War On Terror are very complex, but are the ways we are
going about fixing them effective? In October of 2015 the airstrikes that we have been doing on
these terrorists led to the death of 25 innocent people. (W.J. Hennigan, U.S. Vows to Stay Course
in Iraq) Instances like these may inspire more to turn to terrorism and hatred towards the United
States. So not only did we hurt and affect hundreds of lives, we may have created more enemies
to fight against us. We must be very careful in this time of war, many people and nations and
people look upon us. Ineffective air strikes is not the way to combat ISIS, but people of America
are very strongly against putting more soldiers in Iraq, and they cant get mad when nothing is
accomplished in the Middle East. They are voting in and supporting politicians who want to
continue to just keep the enemy at bay. If we don't want to face them, and deal with them now,
let's completely withdraw and focus on safety in our country.
If we withdrew all forces from the middle east, we would no longer be putting american
lives at risk, and we would be saving a lot of taxpayers money in the process. War is very
expensive, and in the last decade we have spent around 2 trillion dollars on foreign affairs.
(Fareed Zakaria, Time to Terminate the War on Terror) Majority of the fighting (for us) has
ceased, but a storm seems to be on the horizon. We should focus on homeland security and unity
as a country, because united we stand, divided we fall (Pink Floyd, Hey You) In today's world,
america is divided into two groups more or less. Republic and Democratic. When voting for
people to lead our country, you essentially have two choices, chocolate or vanilla. George
Washington as he was leaving for presidency warned about dividing ourselves into political

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classes. (Washingtons Farewell Address, Heritage.org) If we are not careful it could lead to the
undoing of our country that so many people have laid down their lives for.
The situation in Syria is not just a conflict with the United States. There are many nations
involved and one of the reasons people don't want to dive in is because Russia and China support
the opposite side from us. That is a valid reason to be hesitant. Not being able to charge in and
solve problems, we should just back off. If we can't fix anything, why are we over there? We
have a lot of things we can be doing to improve our country. One of those problems being the
economy, we need to promote the average working man or average working women. We need
not meddle around in business that doesn't affect us until it does affect us. Right now our hands
are tied so there is no use in sticking around is there?
What we are doing to combat terror is ineffective. How long must this waste of tax
dollars go on? ISIS is now the new terrorist organization we are dealing with, but they are no
different from the last. They are all just heartless animals that enjoy killing. This group ISIS is no
weaker than they were before the airstrikes started. According to Ken Dilanian in Despite
Bombings, Islamic State Is No Weaker Than a Year Ago, We've seen no meaningful degradation
in their numbers, a defense official said, citing intelligence estimates that put the group's total
strength at between 20,000 and 30,000, the same estimate as last August, when the strikes
began. This article was published at the end of July of 2015! They are no weaker than before.
Obviously we need to change the way we are going about this. The only people we are hurting
are civilians. We are probably leading more to join ISIS with our actions. We either need to buck
up and deal with this situation immediately, or back off and rethink our strategy. Getting more
boots on the ground and rolling out a full fledged invasion does not seem like the most intelligent
thing to do, if we are not careful we could start a World War 3. On top of that the American

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people don't wish to put our soldiers at risk. The alternative to that is backing off, focusing on
our country's best interest, and focusing on the defense of our own nation's land. Many would
believe leaving would endanger us, but not if we spent every day preparing for any threat to try
to come knocking on our door. It would not end so well for them. America is home of the brave,
and land of the free. Throwing some missiles at terrorists bunkered up in fox holes isn't going to
help keep our country free. Eliminating them all together will help keep our well being. Whether
that be by taking them head on right now, or awaiting the inevitable with silent preparation.

Fareed Zakaria, Dec. Time to Terminate the War on Terror. The Washington Post
Company, December 7, 2012. Web. 10 November 2015.

John Yoo, Sep. Ten Years Without an Attack. The Wall Street Journal,
September 7, 2011,

Web. 10 November 2015.

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Seth Mandel, Nov. The Failed War on Terror. Magazine Commentary,

November, 2013. Web. 10 November 2015.
Andrew J. Bacevich Feb. United States, Bystander. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
February 27, 2011. Web. 10 November 2015
W.J. Hennigan Oct. U.S. Vows to Stay Course in Iraq. Los Angeles Times,
October 24, 2015. Web. 16 November 2015
Christi Parsons and David Lauter Nov. Presidential Candidates Criticize
Obamas Islamic State Strategy, but Thiers Sounds Similar. McClatchy
Washington DC News Bureau, November 16, 2015. Web. 16 November 2015
Roger Waters. Hey You. Pink Floyd. Columbia Records, 1979. Vinyl recording.
Ken Dilanian, Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue Nov. Despite Bombing, Islamic
State Is No Weaker Than a Year Ago , July 31, 2015. Web. 16 November 2015
George Washington Farewell Address September 19, 1796. Web 16 November 2015

Paul Allen It Begins with Our Questions The Humanities as a Call to Action,
2015, Textbook. 16 November 2015