Temporary ban
According to Reuters, president Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders that include a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visa for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern countries.
Not surprisingly, the U.S., particularly under the Obama administration, has been responsible for wreaking havoc in all of the anticipated countries to make the list. According to four-star General Wesley Clark, shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon adopted a plan to topple the governments of seven countries, being Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Lebanon, and Iran.
Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria all make the list, with the U.S. bombing Syria and Iraq quite heavily in recent times. According to an estimate released by the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. dropped over 26,000 bombs in 2016 alone, with the majority landing in Iraq and Syria. Yemen is also set to make the list -- which has already felt the wrath of Donald Trump in his first weekend since inauguration, being pounded by drone strikes on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Legality of operations
The legality of these operations continues to be overlooked by the mainstream media. War requires a legal basis, yet the country bombed most heavily in 2016 was Syria, a country not officially at war with the United States.
Donald Trump's pre-election vow that he would "bomb the s*** out of ISIS" seems to suggest that he intends to up the ante on the U.S. bombing campaigns in the Middle East. According to some reports, he is also contemplating his own surge in Afghanistan, a country that has been gripped by war for decades.
It is a strange concept that a nation can bomb another country relentlessly, but can't offer refuge to those people who most need the help.
Yemen is currently facing a humanitarian crisis, but the U.S. has merely contributed to the current situation quite heavily by providing material support to the Saudi-led coalition. The least it could do would be to allow safe haven for those who desperately need to escape a brutal assault on the Middle East's poorest nation.
