History (Critical Interpretation of Contemporary American History:Empire and Militarism) - Essay Example

Starting with the deposition of the Hawaiian Queen in 1893, this has been going on since more than a century, This ever increasing hunger for resources has made the U.S. the most aggressive nation in the world. This untrammeled hunger for power over other countries and their resources will cause more wars which will inevitably lead to the destruction of the ecology of the planet, and might lead to the destruction of the human race itself. It is the duty of every American to restrain the imposition of the will of the U.

S on other countries .Citizens must make it a point to be well informed about various issues and policies of the government and the multinational companies, and must take measures to rein in unethical, ambitious ventures. Presidents have forgotten or ignored the ideals on which the republic was built, but have taken good care to see that the common people do not come to know the reprehensible behavior of the governmental agencies. “Overthrow” by Stephen Kinzer calls into question many of the actions taken by various Presidents in the name of ‘national security’.

According to him, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the culmination of the century old policy of overthrowing governments who do not do the bidding of the U.S He describes fourteen cases where governments were overthrown by the might of U.S. From the deposition of the Queen of Hawaii in 1893 to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States has overthrown or helped to overthrow regimes in different parts of the world to boost its own power and help its business interests. He describes the Iraq war as “the only conflict Americans ever fought without truly knowing why”.

(Kinzer 285) Kinzer quotes instances like the overthrow of the regime in Nicaragua, which was done solely to help the American companies to operate as they wished, and the overthrow of the government under Mossadegh in Iran only to help the oil companies,