The state of the Middle East today is almost unrecognizable compared to that of only 20 years prior. It’s a region that’s been destabilized by American influence and bombarded with a foreign military presence that’s done much more harm than good. It’s also a region that has somehow been forgotten in history — or at least in the American history syllabus — leaving students unable to grasp the reality of America’s place in the War on Terror.
The truth is, there’s a worrying lack of education regarding America’s initiation of the War on Terror and what the nation has done during it. Many history courses in universities, both in upper and lower division, look at American history through rose-colored glasses. There are very few courses that students can engage with that take the time to properly introduce students to true American history.
There are countless misconceptions about the War on Terror that need to be corrected through education. Ever since the events of 9/11, America has engaged itself in the global War on Terror, trying to make right what terrorists took from them that fateful day. The War on Terror’s first move, described by the Iraq Resolution, was the 2003 invasion of Iraq in an effort to “disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support of terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” The Bush presidency “found” that Saddam Hussein was supporting terrorists monetarily and through training and sheltering, which was later proven to be false. Prior to the invasion, there was also a conspiracy of a connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, thus connecting the two to the 9/11 attacks — also later proven false.
Another misconception: There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. David Kay, top U.S. weapons inspector at the time, went on the record during a Senate hearing to say that every party believed there were extensive weapon supplies in Iraq, but he was wrong. He went on and “debunked” the idea that they lied about the weapons in the first place, instead blaming it on faulty information they received.
There are very few courses, even in UCI, that come close to discussing America’s part in destabilizing the Middle East or its relationship with the War on Terror. The 2021-2022 school year was the last time UCI hosted a course exploring this idea. “The Global War on Terror” was a sociology course taught by Professor Jason Mueller, who petitioned to take the course shortly after its founder, Chuck O’Connel, retired. The course not only covered American influence in the Middle East and in places like Somalia, but the vast history of said regions as well.
“For an entirety of a student enrolling in school right now, their whole life the war on terrorism has been going on. … you can be living through something for the 20 years you’re alive but almost never hear about it discussed to the point where you never know that since the minute you’ve been born the country’s been at war with dozens of countries in the world,” Mueller said in an interview with New University regarding the importance of a course on the War on Terror.
As always, however, everything in America remains politicized — especially our history. If we continue to rob students of that knowledge, it affects not only their ability to learn from it, but the ability to comprehend our nation’s influence abroad.
We later began to discuss the concepts of historical and media literacy. These skills are essential to creating a socially engaged public, as they influence a person’s ability to properly take part in social, historical and political discourse. It’s a core principle of any classroom, as literacy in every topic is what an educator should strive to maintain in students. Despite this, America’s historical literacy is worryingly lacking.
One of the many reasons for this is a fear of honest discussion of what the U.S. has done in other parts of the world. As Mueller described, “this trickles into the education system and media ecosphere of what the heck your country was doing for years or decades somewhere else.”
The definition of honesty surrounding history is constantly malformed to fit the context it’s needed in. The War on Terror is no different; facts are left out and blame is shuffled around.
The phrase “Bush Lied, People Died,” is impossible to miss in a history textbook. However, discussing the reality — the fact that Bush did in fact use information he was informed was untrue to justify a war that would rage on till today — is a lot less common. This was a war that would take millions of lives globally, one that truly has no end in sight. Bush lied, but in the everyday history classroom, that’s just a rumor.
Mueller compared the Global War on Terror to the history of the U.S. and Vietnam in the 1950s through the 1970s, arguing that, at least then, there was some public literacy as to what the government was doing. Now, most of that information has been — as described by Mueller — “banished down the memory hole” while education regarding the widespread resistance to the Vietnam War is also not well discussed or taught in the U.S. The connecting feature between American atrocity in Vietnam to that within the Middle East is that, due to American discomfort, “nobody wants to hear [about] that.”
Despite what people don’t want to hear about America, in the end it’s just basic history.
“It’s literally teaching history and if you’re not willing to do that,” Mueller said, referring to making Americans uncomfortable in the classroom, “then you’re not willing to teach history.”
America has unfortunately become too cozy as of late with the idea that it does no harm. Those in politically advantaged positions spread this rhetoric that America’s place in war is to fight for good and to end the “bad guy’s” regime. This has left people unable to come to terms with the fact that America — a supposed land of freedom and justice — is just as capable of exploitation and cruelty as the countries it goes to war with.
As long as our current trend of debating every piece of information that goes into a history class syllabus continues — similar to the debate questioning the necessity of teaching racial themes in schools — expecting change on the K-12 level is unrealistic for now. That’s why a class like the War on Terror in higher education is essential. If we can’t give students the tools to understand American geopolitics earlier on, we can at least open the doors for a discussion about all of its nuances later in the education process.
Many students in the War on Terror class were not only shocked to learn about how deep American nationalism goes, but used it to self reflect. That’s the goal of these courses: to not only educate students about history, but to show them just how much it affects them. Additionally, these classes prove just how easy it is to gain a new perspective on something depending only on how much you’re willing to learn about a topic.
You don’t need to wait on a class about the War of Terror to start learning, either. If you’re interested in learning about it, Mueller would tell you exactly what you need to do: read, read and then read some more. The more history you enrich yourself with, the greater capacity your historical literacy has to grow. If you don’t want to do it alone, he also suggests starting a reading group — reaching out to other students and talking amongst each other. That’s what started almost every political social movement led by youth anyway: a group of students who were willing to learn.
Layla Asgarian Nahavandi is an Opinion Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at lasgaria@uci.edu.
