A historian and former US soldier who served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan has called the War on Terror a “battle for basic hegemony in the Middle East”, warning that it may go on indefinitely.
Speaking to RT’s Watching the Hawks, West Point graduate and author Major Danny Sjursen called the US’ now 17-year War on Terror “unprecedented in American history.” He said that soon kids who were born after 9/11 will be joining the military.
Sjursen called the War on Terror a misnomer. “How do you fight a war against a tactic. Terrorism is a tactic,” he asked.
“What it really has been, in my opinion, is a war for basic hegemony in the Middle East,” Sjursen said. He believes that even though some of it may be backed by humanitarian impulses, “I don’t suspect that the government necessarily fights just for oil or whatever the different conspiracies [are].”
“The War on Terror, as far as I see it, is potentially perpetual. There is no end in sight,” he added.
Calling for a teaching of the mistakes from the “messy history” of the US misadventure in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sjursen warned that the US is “apt to repeat” these mistakes “whether it’s in Iran, whether it’s in West Africa.”
“American soldiers are dying countries Americans can’t pronounce, they can’t find on the map, and part of the problem and part of the reason for that they aren’t really educated on this.”
Sjursen called for the War on Terror to be taught in schools and for honest and critical conversations to be had publicly in order to educate the average American on it.
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