O Say Can You Please Entry 19: Stuck In the Middle East With You
Disclaimer: Much of this article was written around the time that the tensions between the USA and Iran were nearing a boiling point earlier this month. This is to be read as a relic of weeks past, and not as a current story.
   
    It’s safe to say that American relations with Iran have greatly deteriorated in the new year — and by that, I mean the past four days — because of a series of unfortunate events. First, Iranian-backed militias stormed the American embassy in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Then, the US military carried out a legally questionable order by President Trump to kill Iran’s highest-ranking general in an airstrike. That’s a drastic escalation if I’ve ever seen one, and it’s obvious someone didn’t think of the consequences of such an escalation. Either way, America was on the brink of another major war, and cooler heads thankfully prevailed for nowl. Those cooler heads do not usually include our Commander-In-Chief, so the world was understandably preparing for the conflict between America and Iran to no longer be cold.
    There are various reasons why a full-blown war would be a terrible idea right about now. Granted, war is never really the best option, but there are times when it’s the right course of action. This is not one of those times. This is because there was a diplomatic agreement keeping them in check until Trump foolishly withdrew. That agreement was the nuclear deal signed during the Obama administration, by the way. The terms of this agreement were heavy restrictions on uranium enrichment and plutonium production. Also, some sanctions were lifted and continuous inspections would help enforce the deal. All of this put a practical cap on the strength of Iran’s nuclear program, and potentially its military by extension. Without it, we have less of an idea of how capable Iran is of facing us, and given that America has a tendency to underestimate the difficulties of conflicts in smaller nations (like with Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan), facing a nation with even moderate amounts of global influence like Iran could have disastrous consequences.
    The first consequence would be financial, as war is not only expensive in terms of lives, but also money. The US national debt is a good indicator of how much we are spending beyond our means, and let’s just say America is well-known for that. In a Statista chart chronicling the national debt since 1990, a general increasing trend emerges. However, the growth is sustainable until around 2002, when the rate the debt increases starts to go up also. 2002 was when the war in Afghanistan really got going, and it was also the year before the Iraq War began. As the wars grew costlier, our government couldn’t pay for certain things, partially due to low taxes, and the debt increased further as a result. Then, when the 2008 recession came along, economic downturn was added to the witch’s brew, and the debt skyrocketed from there to the present $22.7 trillion.
    The other, more important cost of war is lives. It’s a well-known fact that people die in war, soldiers and civilians alike. It is also common knowledge that those who survive are often never the same, physically and/or mentally. This causes people to not want more of the same, and when we’ve been warring for 18 years straight now, it’s time to stop. However, I guess Boeing and Lockheed-Martin need the money at this point in time. That’s all I got for this, but more will be coming as soon as possible.