The City of Light grew dark over the weekend in the wake of the worst terrorist attack to strike any Western nation in more than a decade, leaving the question of war on everyone’s minds.

As the Eiffel Tower’s golden lights were kept off to mourn the scores of dead civilians, metropolises from Sydney, Australia, to New York City illuminated their landmarks in blue, white and red to show their solidarity with France.

The massacre in Paris that left at least 127 people dead and injured more than 350 sent shockwaves across Europe, causing heightened security and a distant sound of beating war drums. French President Francois Hollande branded the attacks an act of war, proclaiming to the world that the Islamic State (IS) will see a merciless retaliation, according to CNN.

That same sound echoed across the Atlantic to Saturday’s Democratic debate stage, which left presidential candidates describing what length the U.S should go to in order to support France. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a cautious approach, saying that in light of the attacks, battling IS is not an American fight, but does require American leadership, reported CBS News. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who previously said he wanted to avoid another quagmire in Iraq, recognized the U.S. has a degree of responsibility for the emergence of IS.

“I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq — something that I strongly opposed — has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of Al Qaeda and IS,” Sanders said. He touched on the idea that after Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed, a power vacuum gave rise to IS, instead of a stable democracy.

Politics aside, the debate represents only the beginning of a larger discussion Americans will have about the U.S.’s involvement in Syria and Iraq. IS has been a weekly, if not daily, subject on mainstream media since the summer of 2014 when the group beheaded American journalists.

Despite the lack of an Authorization for the Use of Military Force by Congress, the U.S. conducted hundreds of airstrikes against IS. In the days prior to the Paris massacre, President Barack Obama authorized the limited deployment of special operations troops on the ground, reported CNN.

The leading three Democratic candidates largely agree that any coalition to eliminate IS should not solely rest in the hands of the U.S., but rather Arab and European nations alike. Obama thought along similar lines yesterday, saying a large-scale ground war by the U.S. would be a mistake and that the call for action lies on the citizens of Syria and Iraq, according to the Huffington Post.

After two U.S.-led coalitions into Iraq in the past 25 years, Americans remain wary of another deadly and costly war. But as the conflict rages on and the migration crisis refuses to ebb, U.S. involvement is inevitably going to increase. The decisions Obama will be making in the last year of his presidency will greatly affect the nation for years to come. If Obama chooses to entangle the country any more in the conflict, his successor will have to decide whether to pull out or see the war through to the end. If Obama chooses not to deploy more troops, IS may survive for years to come.

The issue hits home to Shippensburg University where students, who are now of age to vote, will have to carefully choose a candidate that captures their vision of America’s foreign policy. If the U.S. increases its presence in Syria and Iraq before 2016, students will have to prepare to enter their adult lives much like they lived their youth — in a time of war. It is the younger generation that will have to cope with both the U.S.’s mammoth deficit and how to battle a powerful nation of terrorists.

Though a third war in Iraq may be a possibility sooner or later, there will never be peace in the Middle East until the root of violence is eliminated. No matter which terrorist organization or regime is destroyed and overthrown, intolerance itself remains the perpetuating cause for war. If the U.S. will pass on the baton of leadership to a new coalition, Americans can only hope it may succeed where the U.S. has failed — creating stability in Iraq.

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