Editorial: ‘War’ on ISIS controversial

Review Editorial Staff

We’re probably going to fight the Islamic “State”, at least, more than we already are.

The most important statement is one of French President Francois Hollande has already stated that “France is at war… But we are not engaged in a war of civilisations, because these assassins do not represent any civilisation,” which brings up an interesting point, is the Islamic “State”, actually a state?

To legally go to war, the United States legislative branch needs to vote and declare war on a state, a legitimate governing body as recognized by the UN.

Up until now, the Islamic “State”, ISIS, ISIL or whatever term you perfer has not been recognized as a state, instead it has simply been known as a terrorist organization who has siezed land from Syria and Iraq. Part of this is because of the fact that the UN will never recognize the Islamic “State” as a state, since you need two-thirds of the general assembly to agree to such, and another part is that the US doesn’t want to acknowledge the Islamic State because then they would be subject to the UN charter which states “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” meaning that under normal circumstances the world wouldn’t get to bomb the Islamic “State” unless they properly declare war.

So the question comes down to this, are we going to war? Are we, a democratic governing body, who has been an active participant in the middle east conflict zone, are we going to continue what we have been doing for the past 14 years? While it’s neccessary to put an end to it all, will joining in France’s so called ‘war’ truly do the job? Or will it just cause even darker events to occur in our future?

War, what is good for?