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On June 22, President Donald Trump announced a “very successful” attack on three nuclear sites in Iran that he claims were in response to the possibility of an attack on the United States.

Trump orchestrated the bombing without congressional approval, furthering his dictator-like time in office. This isn’t the first time the U.S. government has entered a war the American people want no part of.

In the 1960s, the Vietnam War divided the U.S. as our military continued to send troops out to intervene in a fight that was not ours. In the 2000s, the Iraq War raged on and was justified by the belief that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Now, in 2025, Trump has made the decision to bomb three of Iran’s nuclear sites with that same “logic.”

The logic mellows down to only this: an unjust belief in American supremacy. For this belief to have taken root, a concerning amount of white supremacy must also have existed, and still does today. Both of these harmful mindsets are then wielded against countries we deem expendable enough to unleash our forces on.

It’s no coincidence these vulnerable countries aren’t primarily white, either.

In both the ‘60s and the 2000s, college students were at the forefront of protests opposing the unjustifiable wars occurring in the name of America – wars not backed by the American citizens themselves. It’s our responsibility today to follow in their footsteps and stay aware of global conflicts, and to expel the views we have been fed about the Middle East since as early as elementary school.

As the Iraq War was occurring during our childhoods, there were many times in which my school hallways were lined with cardboard boxes for students and parents to fill with food, cards and more. These boxes were then shipped to the soldiers fighting the frontlines in the war against Iraq, a war we were raised to believe was just.

Despite our government’s insistence on framing both the Vietnam War and Iraq War as an attempt to “liberate” its peoples, both countries were left destabilized and wrought with destruction, the loss of life horrific. Our intervention only ended in an exacerbation of a conflict already occurring, and the weapons of mass destruction we feared other countries held sit in our arsenal today.

It’s very interesting that the same weapons we villainize other countries for supposedly having are allowed in our hands, especially as the only country to ever utilize nuclear weapons in warfare.

The American military is continuously framed as the “savior” of the very countries and people they’ve harmed. While we feed the military canned foods and packaged sweets, we’re fed lies and misinformation to keep us complicit in the violence they carry out.

We can’t allow our country to ceaselessly, throughout decades, disguise pursuit of imperialism as nationalism and supposed “aid.” It’s no coincidence that the Middle East has been degraded and made lesser than for years, or that Middle Eastern people are still being generalized as “terrorists.”

The goal is simple: if our government can convince us that enemies lie overseas, it can continue to bomb them with no pushback. And then, the U.S. can take over the land left behind. The U.S. has involved itself in wars we have no place in for decades with facades of mongering “peace” and “justice,” all while hiding the real power-hungry reasoning. But we’re not as pliable as they believe.

The Vietnam War protests led by university students eventually aided in our pullback from the war, and the Iraq War protests aided in the anti-war sentiment already building in America. Our actions hold incredible power in our democratic state, and we must continue to take advantage of that. We must continue to call out our government’s inequitable actions just as we did decades ago.

Many protest slogans from the ‘60s still stand, “War on Poverty – Not on People.”

America has schools that can’t stay open in the summer heat because they can’t afford air conditioning, or can’t stay open at all because of such low funding. There are people that die each year from an inability to afford healthcare, including veterans living on the streets due to the lack of care they receive when they return from wars they were deployed to.

Yet, our government doesn’t aid enough with any of those issues or pour enough funding toward them. Somehow, though, there always seems to be funds for bombs.

These fundings for bombs, in fact, are only going to cause higher prices for U.S citizens already struggling. As of Monday, the Iranian parliament has replied to our attack by backing the movement to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that is the only way to get oil from the Persian Gulf. The final decision will be made by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. A blockage of this route will cause spikes in gas prices that are already incredibly high.

Further, despite Trump making the decision to bomb Iran, he now seems to be pulling back. Trump stated that he doesn’t plan to retaliate after Iran responded by launching missiles at a Qatar U.S military base. This only adds more to the stack of reasons why the bombing on June 22 was unnecessary and a waste of resources.

Even if you cannot find it in yourself to care morally for the people of Iran, you will feel the effects of this conflict.

With social media rampant and desensitizing, it’s crucial we don’t water down what occurred when Trump aided Israel in bombing Iran, or water down what occurs when we continue to aid Israel in obliterating Palestine. Instead, we must educate ourselves on what is unfolding. No matter how far or distant a place may seem, real people’s lives are being ripped apart, and as we sit safe in our homes, it’s our duty to be their voices.

Collective liberation can only occur with group effort. Our encampments for Gaza, our outrage at the bombings in Iran, all tie together in an effort against the destruction our government and Israel continue to wrack.

Trump said after his attack on Iran that “Now is the time for peace” and he continues to say that he hopes “Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony.” It would do us good to remember that humanity can’t exist with continuing war, and that bombs have only led to more destruction, not peace. The youth of U.S. universities have the responsibility of upholding the history of protesting that came before us, and discourage any future involvement in unnecessary war.

Dayna Roberts is a junior majoring in creative writing. She can be reached at dbrobert@syr.edu.

Published on June 24, 2025 at 12:36 am