US 'Eliminates' ISIS While Ignoring Root Causes (Still)
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth (a name familiar to Fox News viewers) announced an operation to 'eliminate IS fighters' in Syria, following the death of three US personnel. The usual narrative: US forces, deployed without a UN mandate or Syrian government invitation, are once again heroic counter-terrorists. Conveniently omitted from most mainstream coverage is the US's own history in the
region, including the power vacuum and destabilization that allowed groups like ISIS to flourish, or the illegal occupation of Syrian oil fields. It seems 'eliminating' ISIS is a perpetual motion machine for the military-industrial complex. One might wonder why, after a decade of US presence, 'eliminating' ISIS remains a headline. Could it be that the strategic value of maintaining a military
foothold in a resource-rich, geopolitically critical region outweighs the stated goal? Or perhaps the US, which once forecasted the 'possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in Eastern Syria' in a 2012 DIA internal memo (later declassified), isn't as surprised by these outcomes as they let on. This continuous cycle of intervention and reaction—always after US
casualties—remains a convenient justification for an otherwise illegal occupation.