Syria or is it a case of the military industrial complex?

When mentioning the crisis in Syria, the term “war weary” admittedly doesn’t do many American’s feelings on the topic justice. In the grand scheme of things, you’d be hard pressed not to find a crisis brewing somewhere on the globe. Logic would dictate that the United Nations or United States and her allies for that matter would not be able to insert themselves into every respective crisis where lapses in humanity have manifested themselves.

The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade has taken a toll on the country and the impact is not only relegated to the confines of the financial implications, but take a look at the sobering fiscal cost of war here. However, I would argue that there is a emotional scar that will probably take generations to heal, if it heals at all. We encounter it whenever we endure that not so intrusive (as it used to be) body scan in the name of security at the airport.

In his comments about the prospect for military intervention in Syria during the Rose Garden press conference yesterday, President Obama mentioned “In a world with many dangers, this menace must be confronted” but, we could also make the argument that there is a host of domestic dangers in the United States that have yet to be addressed.

The list is a sobering one to wade through, from school shootings, wanton gun violence in our cities, educational shortcomings in our schools, a crumbling infrastructure and a Congress that has shown an inability to do a job it was elected to do, with a dismal approval rating to show for it. Take your pick, there is a proverbial buffet table of dangers right here at home, but to focus our energy here at home would be too much like right.

However, it would be intellectually dishonest to ignore the geopolitical concerns that the “Syria situation” presents to the interests of the United States and our allies in the region. Considering the prospect that U.S intervention could lead to a larger conflict that would involve Hezbollah, Iran and possibly attacks on Israel. When it is all said and done this all seems to come down to 3 choices, those being: bad; horrible and terrible.

Strangely our recent involvement in armed conflicts from the Korean War up to the War on Terror, doesn’t speak to U.S President’s merely being aspiring to be the Earth’s policeman, but it reeks of something that President Eisenhower warned about during his farewell address in 1961 where he said “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.” Then again, perhaps we can just chalk this up to coincidence. But, there is definitely money to be made in war.