As children we learn life’s lessons the hard way. If we touch a hot stove we get burned, and as a result, we learn not to touch hot stoves again in the future. If as children we are smart enough to learn from our mistakes, then it seems almost shocking that the government has not learned anything from its own blunders throughout history.

Obama, the supposedly antiwar president, recently announced that America will aid the rebels in Syria by sending them arms to fight the Syrian regime. President Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons against the Syrian rebels has been used as justification for intervening in Syria’s ongoing civil war.

Though it cannot be denied that the use of chemical weapons is dreadful, to say the least, it seems many Americans may have experienced a slight case of amnesia. After all, it was not so long ago when our government became similarly involved in Iraq, sending weapons and support to Saddam Hussein in his fight against Iran — support which ultimately "built Saddam's Iraq into the power it became." Of course, we all know how well that turned out: We supplied Iraq with chemical weapons, and Hussein turned them on his own people.

It would appear that this “red line” President Obama has accused President Assad of crossing is relative according to the date.  What is now an atrocity against humanity (chemical weaponry) was once United States aid. And needless to say, it's not hard to imagine a future in which our Syrian rebel allies become our enemies as did our Iraqi  protégé.

According to Antiwar.com's casualty count, the official count of American casualties suffered in Iraq since our occupation there in 2003 has surpassed 32,000. Even though the official casualties number are in the thirty-two thousands, it is estimated that the number is actually somewhere around 100,000. This does not account for the emotional and mental repercussions felt by returning veterans or the 1,455,590 Iraqi deaths due to the American occupation.

The Iraq situation alone seems like enough to make any government official pause and wonder if sending aid, paving the way for further involvement in Syria, is really worth risking our own resources and people. Like Iraq, intervention in Syria is a grave error — but it's one which can be avoided if historical lessons are learned.

Senator Rand Paul held a press conference yesterday announcing his intent to seek legal action against the federal government  for the seizure and surveillance of millions of Americans' phone data. Sen. Paul was joined by Representatives Justin Amash, Thomas Massie, Mick Mulvaney, Louie Gohmert and Mark Sanford, as well as representatives for the ACLU, Freedomworks, EPIC, Campaign for Liberty, and YAL. 

► Edward Snowden is responsible for what is being described as the “biggest intelligence leak in the NSA’s history.”

► I don’t know the details on everything he leaked, but remember all that news from last week about the NSA spying on users of Facebook, Google, Yahoo, etc.? That came from Snowden’s whistle-blowing. His own summary of the leak is:

“That the NSA routinely lies in response to congressional inquiries about the scope of surveillance in America. I believe that when [senator Ron] Wyden and [senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinised most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians."

► Snowden is currently in Hong Kong, comparatively outside the reach of the U.S. government. He may never be able to return to America again, and will likely proceed to Iceland to be safer from extradition.

► Glenn Greenwald did an interview with Snowden in which they discussed his motivations for whistle-blowing and much more. It’s definitely worth a read. Here’s a taste:

Q: Why did you decide to become a whistleblower?

A: “The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

“I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.”

► He appears to be a Ron Paul supporter:

► This piece goes into extensive detail about Snowden himself, if you’re interested in more background on him as a person.

In a show of coalition-building and campus unity, on May 7th the YAL chapter at UCLA decided to bring attention to our Generation of War by joining forces with Amnesty International.  

Earlier this month, the Guantanamo Bay prisoners' hunger strike was brought to our attention, and immediately we found a willing group in Amnesty International to hold an event together. Using our activism grant and Amnesty's own resources, we made signs highlighting the costs and injustices of the status quo at Guantanamo Bay, informed interested passersby about the lack of fair trials and force-feeding of detainees at the prison, and even sported orange jumpsuits for enhanced visual effect!