Runny nose, tightness in the chest, nausea, drooling, vomiting, twitching, and followed by suffocation in a series of convulsive spasms. The inevitable effects of Sarin gas exposure seem to make our desire to intervene in Syria clear-cut. But do you ever wonder why the United States chooses to be the world’s Big Brother? Do we feel obligated to intervene because of our superpower status? Do we want to act because inaction would have immoral implications? Do you find our quick desire to mediate patriotic?
Let me remind you that the United States has used chemical weapons as well. In my 11th grade history class, I learned about Agent Orange, a toxic carpet of napalm that the United States sprayed across Vietnam’s jungles in at least 6,542 separate air attacks during the gruesome war. The primary goals were to defoliate forestry, facilitating the entrance or exit to and from American drop zones, and to burn Vietnamese crops limiting their soldiers’ food sources. Not only did the approach fail, but it induced horrific long-term effects upon the citizens and soldiers of Vietnam. Between 1961 and 1972, the approximated 20 million gallons of napalm dropped on about 25 million acres devastated families, destroyed forests, and dismantled freedoms.
The fire generated reproduction problems to many of the 2.4 million soldiers exposed, some of which were American. The aftermath of Agent Orange continues to ripple today, as half of a million children grew up with cleft palate, mental disorders, extended fingers or toes, hernias, and even cancer. Knowing that the United States government had consciously exposed millions of people to this deadly toxin, it is sometimes tough to understand why they are so anxious to jump to the defense of 1,000 Syrians. While there is no denying the need for justice within Syria, the United States’ urgent decision to intervene is a bit hypocritical. Those 1,000 innocent citizens did not deserve to suffocate from Sarin gas; Moreover, those 400,000 Vietnamese citizens did not deserve to burn alive.
I understand that these abundant chemical raids may attempt to be justified by the fact that the United States is at war, (informally- for there was no formal declaration of war) but there is an enormous difference between the art of war and the annihilation of the human race. Regardless of political differences, we are still one people. This is not to say I am in any way ungrateful for the plentiful opportunity America’s freedom has presented to me, I am merely questioning the government’s motives, an important process of active citizenry