Dear next president,

I am a sophmore in highschool, and I want you to stop sending airstrikes against ISIS because they kill more civilians than terrorists. Air strikes sent targeting terrorists rarely ever hit their target, and when they don’t they usually hit civilians. If an airstrike does hit the target there are usually other casualties which are likely civilians. When more civilians are killed by the U.S it gives people more of a reason to join ISIS. You just can’t beat ISIS from the air.

A 2015 TIME article titled “U.S.-Led Air Strikes Targeting ISIS Kill 26 Civilians in Syria, Activists Say” gives an example of a time that we miss-targeted an airstrike. Nash Jenkins wrote, “At least 26 Syrian civilians were killed Monday in an air strike suspected to have been conducted by the U.S.”. He also followed up with “The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike on the village of al-Khan in Hasakah province killed only civilians, including seven children.” This evidence is one of the many times that we’ve had unneeded casualties due to airstrikes, which is bad. We need to stop sending in air strikes because of all the innocent people the we’ve killed.

In a 2015 TIME article by Melissa Chan called “Bashar Assad Says U.S. Airstrikes Make ISIS Stronger”, she writes about how Bashar Assad (the current Syrian president) said that airstrikes targeting ISIS aren’t effective and just makes ISIS stronger. “ISIS has only grown stronger since the U.S. stepped in to help take out the terrorist group, Syrian President Bashar Assad said” Even the president of Syria can see that the airstrikes aren’t helping the cause. Melissa quoted the Syrian president saying, “You cannot kill terrorists or destroy terrorism from the air, you cannot,’ he added. ‘The Americans have been trying this in Afghanistan for how long? Did they achieve anything? Nothing.” Bashar Assad is right, airstrikes fuel terror groups like ISIS which is bad for us. I agree with the, airstrikes haven’t worked in the past and they don’t now.

I think a solution would be to try to examine the area and get to know Syria better, we have no room for mistakes when it comes to sending airstrikes. If we get more familiar with the targeted area it would make for a much more accurate attack. We also need to try to collaborate with Russia and the Syrian government to figure out a tactic to combat ISIS. But we have to put our qualms with the Syrian government aside first. Thank you for reading and good luck with your presidency, I hope you consider what I said in this letter.

Sincerely,

Julian