The United States is the world's strongest superpower. From the beginning of our nation's history, America has been involved in numerous wars, some we started, some we were brought into, and some we entered, which some might argue, that we had no business getting involved in. Many times in the news, we see stories about what our military advances are and what recent things have gone on where we have troops stationed. In recent years, the main place has been the Middle East. We have been at war for as long as I have been alive in the Middle East and it seems to be unending. And while many support our troops at home and overseas, many don't support our country being at war. They don't support the administration that sends our citizens to war to potentially be injured or die for a war we don't support. And while we see things in the news about our actual being at war, do we ever see opposition to war? In January of 2020, President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani. Although I saw on social media where some people were unhappy about this move and some were in full support of it, I did not see much on the news about being against this. Why is this? Why do we only see support for war in the news?
The memo written about the assassination of the Iranian general included President Trump's justification for the killing. The memo does not speak of any imminent threat that Soleimani or Iran posed to the United States. Instead, the memo cites many past instances that led Trump to his decision. The only things that I witnessed being in the news was the critiquing of Trump, not the actual act of war he committed. Trump has faced a lot of criticism ever since he was elected in 2016, and even before, so this was not a surprise. But why was the focus on the president and not the act of war, and the opportunity that it opened up for the United States to start another war?
Is the news just deciding that publishing anti-war opinions is not news-worthy? Will they face too much backlash from an article that promotes anti-war views, or even includes them? Why are they so few and far between? Why do people who do not support war have such a small voice in the media? Until I saw the AntiWar.com website, I had never seen so many articles that did not support war. Not that there were so many, but that I never see anything but social media about being against war. The most recent historic time I recall hearing about people being against war was the protests of the Vietnam War, and even hearing about that so many years later, it is looked down upon for people to have had that opinion about the war. Is it a patriotic, nationalistic thing, or is it a suppression of opposition issue? Are we infringing on the rights of those who have alternate opinions, not giving them the same freedom of speech as those who support war?
https://www.antiwar.com
https://news.antiwar.com/2020/02/14/white-house-justifies-killing-soleimani-for-past-actions-not-imminent-threats/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-war_movement#/media/File:War2.png
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