US Military Operations Worldwide - Essay Example

United s Military Operation in Afghanistan The attacks of the terrorists on the Pentagon as well as the World Trade Center on September 2001 intensely changed the atmosphere in which the US citizens lived. As a result of the attacks, over 3,000 American citizens perished just on that single day at the hands of the ruthless enemies. The terrorist’s attack awakened the U.S. from its typical peaceful slumber it had enjoyed for so many years. Almost immediately, the United States armed forces embarked on a new type of war with Afghanistan: a terrorism kind of war (Schmitt 49). Afghanistan was known as a training ground and a safest hiding place of the al Qaeda. It quickly became the target of the first military attack by the U.S. military. The goal of the war was to discover who the terrorists were, the exact place where they got their training, who offered the training to them, and the given places where they were located so that the U.S. could completely destroy them together with their infrastructure. After the September 2001 attacks on the Americans, the United States agency rapidly discovered clues to the organizational affiliation and identity of the terrorists who attacked both Pentagon and the World Trade Center (Schmitt 51). Having the knowledge that al Qaeda was accountable for the attacks, and they were based majorly in Afghanistan, was just one thing. How to perform the attack was another.With limited time to get prepared for the mission, the U.S military teams were to begin the journey immediately into the hostile territory. They were to contact members belonging to the Northern Alliance, organize their movements in a series of offensives and bring the entire might U.S. military power along to smoke out the al Qaeda forces. This will ensure that the Afghanistan government and the country at large were no longer a hiding place for the al Qaeda terrorists (Cooper 97). The U.S. military succeeded in getting control of the terrorists in a duration of few months. However, the military soldiers of U.S. Army, aided by the Navy, Marines and Air Force, confirmed that using discrete military power, irrespective of geographical hindrances, could impose an impact to the number of military forces on the ground. It also proved that it will fight throughout the scale of the conflict as it shifted from unconventional war to conventional warfare and back as circumstances allowed. The Army, in collaboration with all the numerous governmental agencies, also confirmed to the entire world that the U.S. can pursue its rivals wherever they took flee to, even to the furthest parts of the most secluded nations in the world such as Afghanistan (Schmitt 49). The Role of U.S. Military and How they Aided Foreign Policies A core function of the United States government is to maintain good relations with almost 200 other countries in the entire world. It is the foreign policy that determines how the US conducts the relations with the rest of the world. The foreign policy seeks to reassure the security and defense of the country. It pursues the power to project and protect America’s national interests across the globe. The leaders of America have stressed that the encouragement of democracy overseas is the key element of the role of the U.S. in international matters (Calabresi et al. 19). During World War I, it was declared that United States engaged in the war to make the entire world safer for democracy. In the early 1920s stretching up to late 1930s, the U.S. leaders cast the numerous military interventions in the Central America and Caribbean as exercises to establish democracy in those regions. During World War II, U.S. fought against the tyrannies of fascist in the course to maintain freedom. The U.S. emerged from World War II being the most powerful nation on Earth (Schmitt 49). After the World War II, the U.S. changed its foreign policy radically. It spear headed the founding of the United Nations. It incorporated billions of money in the Marshall Plan to enable reinforce war-overwhelmed European democracies. It also formed a system of alliances, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The forming and conducting of America’s foreign policy implicate all the three branches of the US government and an array of governmental agencies and institutions. The executive branch and the president have the most important role in forming foreign policy, and they are accountable for overseeing it out. With the consent and advice from the Senate, the U.S. President makes treaties with other nations as well as appoints ambassadors (Calabresi et al. 19). Military power in the U.S. serves as a mechanism of diplomacy—as a way of attaining aims projected by the civilian officials of the U.S. government. A civilian secretary is the head of the Defense Department and serves in the U.S. Cabinet. The military advisers of the president of the U.S. are the Joint Chiefs Staff. They include the senior officers of Marine Corps, Navy and Army. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security was initiated; it began functioning in 2003 due to a reaction to the 2001 terrorist attack. The department that oversees about 22 different agenciesis now extremely powerful in issues relating to borders, immigration, trade, and security (Cooper 97). The Powers of the U.S. Legislature and Executive during Military War Under the United States Constitution, the war-making powers are shared. The United States Congress is the sole body that is allowed by the constitution to declare war at any desirable times. For instance, the U.S. Congress has declared war four times, the most previous one being the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It also declared war during World War II, war with Vietnam and the Gulf War of 1991. The president has the responsibility for controlling the armed forces as he is the chief commander of the armed forces. The U.S. Presidents have in the past exercised their authority to send the U.S. military into war or into certain situations where hostilities were impending (Cooper 97). In 1973, the Congress approved the War Powers Resolution, which superseded the President’s veto powers in declaring war. Under the Powers Resolution, the president has to agree totally with Congress earlier before sending the U.S. military troops into war or any hostile situations. Although since then, various Presidents have repetitively gone against the constitution to send out military troops to hostile regions without full consent of the Congress. The major reason for separating the powers of war was to evade enormous powers from being in the hands of just one person, the President. The engineers of the resolution understood that, rulers of countries worldwide had previously begun wars severely on the basis of personal desires or international politics. They obviously understood that presidents would frequently get the wish to remove some foreign public bureaucrats, or even dictate the foreign nation’s policies. Such moves are hazardous to liberty, whichever what the reason.The primary reason why they decided to entrust the Legislature with powers to pronounce war was to make sure that the People are directly involved in decision making, as much as it is physically possible (Cooper 97). How the US Foreign Policy is Shaped and Molded by the Use of Military Action The U.S. Foreign policy is the ways in which the U.S. interacts with foreign countries and sets up standards of relations for its corporation, organizations, and individual citizens. Not a long while ago, the United States of America enjoyed the height of world pre­eminence, since they defeated the Japan and Germany World War II. The country emerged winners again in 1991 Gulf War from its struggle with the mighty Soviet Union. For the Americans, the result of the Cold War confirmed their superiority in both of their economic and political systems (Dumbrell and Barrett 67). After the Cold War, the U.S general public revealed little inter­est towards foreign affairs. The repeated attacks by terrorist in U.S did not even rise much public attention or provoke strong counter measures. Before the commencement of the two World Wars, the U.S did not uphold a diplomatic or military presence. The country was very secure at the Western Hemisphere that had witnessed the collapse of the European colonial control during the era after the American Revolution. Even though, the eminent powers of Europe involved in never-ending spasms of political aggression that loomed to draw in the U.S., a prospect which had little or no appeal (Dumbrell and Barrett 67). During the better part of the second half of the nineteenth century, the Congress was the most powerful U.S. government branch. Although later on, the president was made the center of American politics. It was President Roosevelt who revolutionized foreign affairs. He believed that the US had a worldwide accountability and a very strong foreign policy that tended the national interests of the country. President Roosevelt also worked with the Congress to strengthen the United States Navy that he believed would prevent potential enemies from pursuing the country. The President as well used his energies in negotiating for peace agreement and working to standardize power all through the globe (Dumbrell and Barrett, 67). The United States of American’s hate-love relations with the rest of the world is an enduring reality that should be understood. The military and defense forces of the U.S.has always involved physical security or even more than that. By the 20th century, the United States, along with Japan, had merged the ranks of their strong powers by a combination of global economic trade and the regional military expansion. Presently, the United States of America enjoys a status of supreme military power and great political and economic influence worldwide (Dumbrell& Barrett 67). Works CitedTop of FormTop of FoTop of ForTop of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Calabresi, Steven G, and Christopher S. The Unitary Executive: Presidential Power from Washington to Bush. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008. Print. Cooper, Phillip J. By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002. Print. Dumbrell, John, and David M. Barrett. The Making of Us Foreign Policy. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1990. Print. Savage, David G, and Joan Biskupic. The Supreme Court and the Powers of the American Government. Washington, D.C: CQ Press, 2009. Print. Schmitt, Michael N. The War in Afghanistan: A Legal Analysis. Newport, RI: Naval War College, 2009. Print. Bottom of Form Read More