Another week has passed, and today we will see what Congress says about military intervention in Syria. One main question throughout this debate has been, “why should we intervene?” This is Syria’s war, started by its civilians and continued by them. Why should we use our resources in another country when we need them so badly here? The main argument has been because of the Syrian government’s unjust attacks on its people. Is there a moral obligation to aid citizens whose government openly attacks them? We have intervened in similar situations before, but I honestly do not believe it was for moral reasons.

Many Americans, including myself, are tired of war. We are tired of policing the international system and going into every country with problems. For most of my lifetime, we have been at war with Iraq. We went in to liberate them from an unjust ruler and ended up occupying the country. This is the normal U.S. pattern. President Obama claims Syria will be a quick military operation that will more than likely do no harm. If it will be so quick and so harmless, what is the point? It won’t be to help the citizens because they could mount a quick military action themselves from all the weapons we’ve given them.

In this situation, we could gain absolutely nothing from going in. We will lose our resources, our troops and our time on a war that we cannot solve. The more we intervene, the more we will have to intervene until all of our resources and power have evaporated. The United Nations exists for a reason, and this is a case where it should take control. I believe the Security Council eventually will make a decision, and we should not circumvent it on this particular case no matter that decision.

We have intervened in almost every conflict, but it is not our responsibility to go into sovereign nations and overrule them. If we ever have problems in our nation, I highly doubt we would want any other country to come in and fight for one side or the other. We need to realize our power is finite and can be lost, and we should treat other nations as we would like to be treated.