Op Ed: From Iraq To Iran, Looking Back At 20 Years Of U.S. Aggression On The Middle East

The following is a guest, opinion submission to The Burner. To submit your own, email hannah@theburnerseattle.com

To show my age, one of my first acts of political engagement was showing up to an anti-war protest in 2005 as a young teen in Spokane, WA. By that point my understanding of geopolitics was underwhelming but I was resolute in my belief that the war in Iraq made no sense and whatever juvenile reverence for the government’s confidence and competence I may have once had was giving way to suspicion and rage.

Rewinding a few more years, I had been with my parents when they drove down to the polling station set up in the basement of a small church back in 2000. On the drive I’d asked my Dad who he was voting for and he simply and unenthusiastically responded; “Gore, the lesser of two evils.” Five years later as I stood with a meager crowd of anti-war, anti-Bush protesters I had thought, ‘I guess this is what the greater evil has wrought.’

Of course, the violence and state surveillance our government carried out in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks would come home too. In 2014 I recall sitting in my backyard with a friend from high school on the 4th of July as fireworks blew up in the street in front of my house. He grimaced with each blast, multiple deployments to the wars in the Middle East had left him scarred in ways I couldn’t understand and felt helpless to soothe as the light from fireworks celebrating America’s birth lit up his solemn face.

Last week I sat in the waiting room of a Department of Homeland Security office providing accompaniment to an immigrant during their appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As we waited I watched as refugees of America’s global oppression, exploitation and violence filed in, children holding the hands of their parents, humans from every corner of this earth, for our government’s violence and glut knows no bounds. There is no desert too far or jungle too thick to keep us out.

A lone television sat on the wall and played a commercial for Border Patrol on loop, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem inexplicably donning a bullet proof vest, looking down from the TV upon the line of immigrants, surrounded by signs about various illegal ways of gaining entry to America and the punishments for trying, all emblazoned with cartoonishly large bald eagles, the entire apparatus designed like an ode to intimidation; an entry or exit door to the American Police State, which of those it is for each individual is to be decided quickly, incoherently and cruelly.

Earlier this month as I walked alone back to my car from another protest, this one in Seattle and with one of the largest protest crowds in Seattle history, I thought about that day 20 years ago, wandering from Spokane’s famed Clocktower back to River Park Square, and I thought about the propaganda, and the conflicts and the leaders we’ve seen in the years since. The names and faces of some of the characters have changed, some remain the same, the region of the world is the same, and the story too for the most part. All the pieces seem to be falling right into place for the warmongers and death profiteers to corral the citizenry right into another decades long conflict with all the predictable wreckage it brings with it.

As the Democratic Party leadership are having their anti-war stances outdone by the likes of white nationalist propagandist Tucker Carlson, we as citizens must demand they speak up against America and Israel’s escalation of war against Palestine, and now Iran. Our Senators must sign-on to support the War Powers Resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine. We must demand that not another cent of aid is sent to the government of Israel as they continue their genocidal war on Gaza and the people of Palestine.

Locally, we should engage with organizations like National Iranian American Council, Resist US-Led War Seattle, SUPER UW, or join Seattle Democratic Socialists of America and get involved in their Boycott War Profiteers campaign, or Immigrant Justice Working Group.

Global violence does not have to be inherent to our human experience and we must work together to bring about cooperation, demilitarization and build solidarity for those who’ve already been displaced and harmed by American’s ongoing imperialism.