Terrorist attacks at home and abroad are shaping the foreign policy debate for the 2016 presidential election. Our next president could be the difference between peace and world-wide conflict.
For you, it means the difference between being drafted or using your degree to be the burger flipper you always dreamed of. The conflict starts in Syria. Certain candidates, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, want to emplace a no-fly zone over parts of Syria in order to protect the rebels.
Basically, aircraft will be intercepted and shot down should they enter the restricted area designated a no-fly zone. A no-fly zone will do one of two things: escalate regional conflict or put us at war with Russia.
A no-fly zone would give Syrian extremist groups, or rebels, a place to grow under the safety of United States aircraft by preventing Russian aircraft from bombing the rebels, further destabilizing the region. Some Syrian rebels are good, but no one knows how many rebels groups are ridden with extremists and sympathizers, so we should not trust them any more than you’d trust Clinton with your guns.
Our government seems to think otherwise. The U.S. gave TOW anti-tank missiles to Harakat Hazzm, a Syrian rebel group. In March, The International Business Times reported the defectors took our weapons and joined more extremist groups.
Our number one concern in the Middle East should be the Islamic State group. We need to only focus on defeating them and assisting regional countries with refugees. We could do that if we didn’t oppose Russia supporting Assad and remained neutral in the Assad vs. rebel conflict.
Dictator Assad and his government are the only forces in Syria opposing the rebels and the Islamic State group simultaneously. Many countries oppose his regime and his assistance from Russia, but he is one of Russia’s allies in the region.
Don’t get me wrong. The U.S. shouldn’t be sleeping with Assad like Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, but we shouldn’t threaten to take down Russian aircraft or supply weapons to the rebels either. As a idiom says, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”
A “devil” we didn’t know became the Islamic State group, but this is one of many evils that surfaced under President Barack Obama. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and militants in Libya are others.
The solution to the entire conflict is simple. Create a no-fly zone over refugee camps in a neighboring country with extensive border checks and prevent anyone from returning to Syria until the conflict is over.
By doing this, Assad and the rebels can wage conflict without U.S. intervention. America will have more time to focus on — with the help of Russia — bombing the Islamic State group into submission.
As young and healthy able-bodied Americans, we should pay attention to foreign affairs. Who really wants to be drafted?
Garrett Marcel is a 21-year-old petroleum engineering major from Houma, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter at @Gret419.