Is the US about to blindly march into yet another catastrophic war? | Moustafa Bayoumi

A ceasefire from all sides, along with the immediate and safe return of all the hostages, is what's necessary now - this is hardly a difficult concept to grasp

On the morning of 19 October, I received an email circulated by the director of veteran's affairs at the City University of New York, where I teach. Due to recent dire events overseas," the email read, there is a possibility that the Department of Defense might activate varied servicemembers by or before November 1, 2023."

Is the United States about to blindly march us into yet another catastrophic war? This type of information didn't come only from my university, either. NBC News has also reported that about 2,000 US troops have been ordered to prepare to deploy to support Israel. While some get ready for war, shouldn't the rest of us be pushing for alternatives to violence, especially before we find ourselves in a global conflagration beyond anyone's control?

Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. He is a professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. He is a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian US