Trump 'Fights' ISIS Again, Ignoring Why They Grew in the First Place
The Independent breathlessly reports that Donald Trump is 'taking on ISIS in Syria again' with 'Operation Hawkeye Strike,' praising the former president for stepping up attacks after previously questioning US involvement. This framing celebrates a return to militarism without ever questioning the context. One might recall that ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) didn't just spontaneously appear
in the region; its rise was significantly fueled by the instability and power vacuums created by the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and subsequent destabilization efforts in Syria. Instead of dissecting how US foreign policy repeatedly creates the very enemies it then heroically 'fights,' Western media prefers the cyclical narrative of constant, justified intervention. It's a familiar script:
intervention, destabilization, emergence of new threats, then more intervention. The receipts are clear: the intelligence leading to the Iraq war was faulty, and the consequences (including the emergence of ISIS) are conveniently memory-holed by outlets eager to applaud another 'strike' against a monster of our own making.