Nida Khan: No More Bloodshed (The Paris Attacks)

 

If you listened to many politicians on both the right and left discussing the rise of ISIS (or ISIL) and terrorism at large, you’d think that everything began with 9/11.  Even people like Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton – who, let’s remember, voted in favor of the ’03 Iraq War – argues that though she voted incorrectly, terrorism isn’t on the rise simply because of that invasion. She and other leaders are quick to remind us of the greatest attack on American soil, 9/11.  While no one minimizes the catastrophic brutality of 9/11 and the thousands of American lives lost on that tragic day, it is woefully misleading to act as if we weren’t already entrenched in the Middle East beforehand.  Even something as major as the first Iraq war is somehow left out of context when we discuss civilian deaths, the rise in terrorism and the current global crisis now facing everyone.  ISIS  may have risen out of the instability created after an unnecessary war in ’03, but terrorism was around long before then – as was Western aggression. 

Click here for the full article and corresponding photos.

Nida Khan is a freelance journalist based in New York City. 

Source: HipHopandPolitics.com