United Nations and USA Interventions - Essay Example

UN VS USA INTERVENTIONS Introduction The United Nations was formed after the Second World War with a man bringing peace to the world. The world could not stand what had precipitated as conflict between Germany and Poland and the consequences it had brought to the world as different countries in the world took sides. Its main aim was to arbitrate in contentious issues which could precipitate conflicts in order to avoid bloodshed as was witnessed in the world wars. It was seen as a channel through which countries could bring their issues for mediation instead of resulting to taking arms against each others. As a result, intervention in conflicts become an important part of it work. The United States of America is a nation that is made of states occupying the Northern part of America. The making of United States and its ascension to world superpower signifies a path full of conflict. After the Second World War, it emerged as one of the powerful states in the world and the end of cold war era brought a new world order with the United States as the only superpower in the world. Therefore as the only superpower in the world, the United States has had an upper hand in most of the world affairs. As such there are many instances where United States has intervened in conflicts but also in times when there was not intervention which was needed. (Shah 2008, p. 3) The theory of interventions Intervention can be considered as a form of arbitration which is meant to bring the conflicting sides together or to mitigate the situation. There have been many forms of interventions in the world depending on the nature of conflict at hand. An intervention is supposed to be in interests of protecting the welfare of all the parties involved or in interest of protecting one of the parties that cannot stand the strength of the other in the conflict. There have been raging arguments concerning the provisions of the UN charter on intervention with conflicting sides arguing about the need to use military intervention in order to bring peace to warring parties and opponents arguing that this has not been provide by the UN charter on intervention and it amounts to violation of human rights. (Shema 2005, p. 1) Throughout history, there have been instance where thousands of innocent citizens have been slaughtered or displaced in the eye of the international community with same kind of argument prevailing. In 1994 thousands of Rwandans were slaughtered and millions of others displaced as the international community watched and the response was that Rwanda was a small unknown country. Since 2000, millions of people have been murdered in Darfur region of Sudan and other displaced as the world watches. These are some of the instance that has called for intervention by use of force in order to end such a crisis. Therefore the overall aim of any intervention is to protect the civilians from sufferings that they may be undergoing especially when the cause can be traced back to a political conflict. Historical interventions of the UN and US Since 1990s, there have been increased humanitarian interventions in the world. This has been due to increased incidence of conflicts and the traditional political system collapsed and countries tried to position themselves in the changing world. There has also been struggle for independence and many political conflicts. When it was formed the UN has been able to intervene in a number of conflict in the world especially in the Middle East in 1948 in Israel, 1957 in Egypt, 1958 in Lebanon and Syria, 1964 in Yemen, 1973 in Israel, 1978 in Lebanon, 1991 in Kuwait, and many others. It has also been involved in intervention in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India in 1988 and 1990. It has also intervened in African in 1992 in Somalia, 1999 in Sierra Leone, 1999, in Congo and recently in Darfur. These are just but some of the instance that the UN has intervened. The number of times that the US has intervened in the world are countless same as the number of countries where it ahs intervened. The history of its intervention dates back to 1775 in a revolution war against Britain to the recent intervention in Iraq in 2002. However since 1945 the US has been using the CIA for most of its intervention. The failure by UN to intervene in Bosnia, Somalia, and in many other areas and the successful intervention of the US has made it a major player in intervention in conflicts. But at the same time the US has been accused of bombing more than 21 countries since the end of World War II and successfully carrying out coups in many countries in the world. For example 1973, the US staged a coup in Chile against President Salvador Allied and installed Pinochet as a dictator. US have also led to many other instances which have led to overthrowing of democratically elected presidents. Let us look at the US intervention in Iraq. (Donatella 2003, p. 3) USA intervention in Iraq Since the rise of United States as the superpower in the 1990s, it had occupied the position with all its might spreading its military and intelligence presence in the whole world. The approach of USA to the new position was that of "know-it-all" as it seemed to supervise and control everything that was happening in the world. It set up military bases in many in many place parts of the world. But that attack on Twin Tower on September 11 was a blow of the United States status of a super power and it realized that it could not watch as terrorist group ruled the world. Therefore it started the infamous war on terror. This was a form of intervention as interpreted by President Bush and his administration as he stressed that there would be no peace in the world unless all the terror groups were wiped out of the face of the earth. Apparently one of the US long allies against the Soviet in the cold war had turned against the US. In 1980, the US had trained Osama bin Laden and the fellow terrorist in order to kill Soviets. The CIA had given them $3 billion (miljard). Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda who the US had trained successfully carried out the September 11 attack. The US waged a war against the group in Afghanistan where they were supported by the ruling Taliban. As per the provisions of the UN charter, the US was supposed to seek the approval of the Security Council in order use military power to drive out Al Qaeda from Afghanistan since this was a sovereign nation. However there were some countries that for ethical and ideological difference with US opted for another way to intervene to drive out the Taliban rulers. Therefore they used the veto power of voting in the Security Council to block the US. But the US mobilized its allies including Britain who were apparently threatened by al Qaeda network and attacked Afghanistan. The US and its allies did not rest there and their next target was governments which were apparently supporting the Al Qaeda. Due to a long standing conflict between Iraq and US the Bush administration decided to attack Iraq with an intention of overthrowing the dictatorial leadership of Sadam Hussein and putting in place a democratic regime. Again the UN did not support the idea and the veto power again did not favor US and it allies. Nonetheless the US and it allies combined the military power and overthrew Saddam Hussein and installed a puppet government but its democracy ideologies have never taken root in the country. (Kurth 2005, p. 4) What we should understand is that the political authority to which gives the legitimacy of an attack on any sovereign nation whether in form of an intervention or not rests with the United Nations. According to the UN provisions any form of intervention must be viewed by the permanent members of the body who sits in the Security Council and they must use their veto power to support or not support such an intervention. But due to political and economical competition between the US and some of the rising center of power in the world including China and Russia, the US has decided to overstep the provision of this international chatter and hence intervene in situations which other members feel should not be intervened. This has been judged as a sinister move by the US aimed at exploiting these countries and serving its own interest and not the interest of the civilians. Conclusion The US was not justified to intervene in Iraq and other countries like Afghanistan. These interventions are diminishing its position in the world and in particular the role it can play in an intervention. The intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq have diminished the political will of the nation and it military capabitly and diplomatic credibility to be trusted with future humanitarian interventions. Reference Donatella, L 2003, UN Peacekeeper in the world, The New York Times, June 2003 Kurth, J 2005, Humanitarian Interventions after Iraq, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Swarthmore College Shah, A 2008, World Military, Political Observation, March 2008 Shema, R 2005, Intervention as a crisis prevention mechanism, Great Lakes Peach Initiative Review Read More