The NATO flag (source: Wikipedia)
NATO, formally known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was founded on April 4th, 1949. The treaty’s main purpose was to act as a direct counter to the Soviet Union’s dominance over eastern Europe preceding the second World War by allowing the nations of North America and Europe to unite against the common cause of anti-communism.
Fast forward to the next century and NATO still exists, despite the obvious downfall of the Soviet Union in December of 1991. What does this mean to member nations? The treaty is still in effect, but the purpose of why it was created back in 1949 is now removed. Some may argue that the organization should be dissolved, yet the fact remains that NATO still exists and the United States and all member countries must abide by the requirements of the treaty.
You may ask why is this relevant? Relevance comes into play because as stated in Article 5 of the original treaty, if one member nation is attacked then all members are attacked: “the parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered attack against them all”. This means that the recent attacks in Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, Ankara and San Bernardino by ISIS were all an attack on the United States of America. We, as Americans, must recognize that we have been attacked and must take indefinite action against ISIS and any radical Sunni terrorists who are associated with them. We cannot allow more attacks to happen to our allies and in turn our own nation and the ideology our nation stands for.
In the 1990s, Bill Clinton intervened in the Bosnian War to halt the ethnic cleansing of Bosniak muslims and civilians. Why not take further military action to destroy ISIS and end the genocide that is occurring in Iraq and Syria at the moment, just like President Clinton did? There is justification through Article 5 of NATO and people continue to be murdered at the hands of ISIS operatives. Ergo, there is no lack of justification to end the Islamic State’s terror instilling regime. Action must be taken to end ISIS in order to stop the attacks on the United States and fight for what our nation and the western world stand for.
Alexander Akoundi ’17
