The US Government's decision to go to war in Iraq: the product of American idealism - Essay Example

The causes associated with the conflict by Gallagher (2006) include; the predetermined plan of president Bush who assumed power with a motive of bringing an end to the reign of Saddam Hussein, retaliatory attacks to 9/11 attacks in the US, and freedom agenda. The current structure of the United States is made up of the three arms of government; legislature, executive and the judiciary (Pauly, 2010). The legislature is the arm that makes laws and is composed of the house of representative and the senate.

The executive enforces the laws and is made up of the president. The judiciary interprets laws and is made up of the courts. The constitution grants both the president and the congress obligations in the enactment of the foreign policy. The president acts as commander in chief of the armed forces, appointing ambassadors and negotiating treaties. They have a prominent role in the determination of engagement in international wars. According to Zoellick (n.d.), the congress regulates the presidential powers.

Making of the foreign policy requires involvement of the president, the executive branch, congress and the public (Dumbrell and Barrett, 2007). However, the implementation of the foreign policy is the exclusive obligation of the president and the members of the executive branch. . The foreign decision-making process takes place in an environment created by the media. The role of the media in the making and implementation of the foreign policy is that of a watchdog (Terry, 2005). This is through reporting and analysing the events resulting from policy decisions.

The media can act as an accelerant that shortens the duration of the decision making process. The media can also act as an impediment to the implementation of the foreign policy. For instance, the media is involved in the coverage of the negative events such as portraying the images of the causalities. The opposition parties normally criticise U.S foreign policy. According to Sheafer and Wolfsfeld (2009), the opposition argues that the policy is loathed with hypocrisy, arrogance, imperialism and exceptionalism.

Idealism in the US leadership is associated with both the right and left political alignments. They include the human right campaigners (liberals), normally associated with the left-wing and the American neoconservatives associated with the right-wing. The neoconservatives are described as people who support the activism role of the government and the application of aggressive foreign policies meant to achieve the conservative goals. Idealism portends that a state, institution or an individual should make their own philosophy the target of their foreign policy or external affiliations.

Politically, the moral uprightness and convenience of the internal systems should be transferred to international organs of governance. For instance, the idealists’ postulation of the United States internal democracy believes that the internal democratic principles should