United States-United Kingdom Special Relationship - Term Paper Example

United States-United Kingdom Special Relationship Introduction The United States and the United Kingdom have enjoyed good historical relations since World War II. President Bill Clinton and Tony Blair both played an important role in coordinating policy decisions in the foreign affairs. The United Kingdom supported the US interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. This paper studies the relationship between the United States and United Kingdom during the Clinton administration and Tony Blair’s government. It also looks at the relations between both countries during the current administration and Tony Blair’s government. During World War II, President Theodore Roosevelt launched a policy of cash and carry which allowed the United Kingdom to purchase weapons from the United States of America. Before the entry of the United States into World War II, it was a major supplier of military assistance to the United Kingdom (McCausland, 2). The United States played a leading role in the fight against Nazi Germany with thousands of troops stationed in Britain which led to friction. The US and UK were two founding members of the United Nations as well as the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The Cold war witnessed close relations between both countries which included the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (McCausland, 2). The United States became one of the two superpowers in the world while the United Kingdom became its most important partner. The US would also assist the UK in developing nuclear weapons. British forces would participate in the Korean conflict but refused to send troops to Vietnam. The US also opposed the colonial policies of Britain. During the 1982 Falklands War, the US supported the UK’s liberation of the islands. They supplied the UK with military equipment. During the 1980s, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were close allies in their stand towards the Soviet Union. Both the Americans and British provided military support to Afghan rebels fighting against the Soviets and their communist allies in Afghanistan. The end of the cold war witnessed cooperation as the United States and United Kingdom were allied in the fight to eject Iraq out of Kuwait. The 1990s has also witnessed the United States and United Kingdom joining forces and intervening in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. Blair-Clinton relationship Prime Minister Tony Blair enjoyed good relations with both the Clinton and Bush administrations. The objective of the Blair government was to strengthen the special relationship with the United States and maximize British influence on the global stage. The United Kingdom was also championed as the bridge that linked the United States with Europe. Some analysts claimed that the United Kingdom had more political clout with the United States as compared with other foreign governments (Archick 5). Some critics however responded by insisting that Blair did not get much for his support to controversial US policies like the fight against terrorism and in Iraq. Tony Blair also did turn British public opinion and his own Labor party’s opinion against him for adopting a close alliance with President Bush. Prime Minister Blair attempted to enlarge the influence of the United Kingdom in the European Union. Blair was a supporter of integration with Europe which considered a threat by some analysts. They feared that the special relationship with the United States would become shaky and European integration would damage UK sovereignty. Blair also pursued a policy of creating a common European defense and foreign policy. He however rejected the participation of the UK in the single currency or the open borders system. US President Bill Clinton enjoyed a special relationship with Prime Minister Tony Blair. He first visited Downing Street in May 1997. Many analysts pointed out to the similarities of the two energetic and young politicians with similar political views. According to CNN, both leaders had their own reasons for ensuring the success of their governments. President Bill Clinton wanted to enjoy a place in history while Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted to win a second term. Blair enjoyed a closer relationship with Clinton as compared with John Major (Herbert). In December 1998, the United States and Britain agreed to launch a series of air strikes against Iraq which was aimed at destroying the country’s potential weapons of mass destruction capability (Herbert). In March 2000, the leaders agreed that scientists must be allowed free access to research the human DNA sequence (Herbert). There were some policy frictions for instance during the Kosovo crisis when Britain called for a deployment of ground forces in Kosovo to force the Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his troops. President Bill Clinton however argued that air strikes were a much viable option to oust the Serbians from Kosovo. Eventually both sides were reconciled as the air strikes forced Milosevic to withdraw his forces from Kosovo (Assinder). The Kosovo Crisis began when Serbian troops were ordered by President Slobodan Milosevic to crush Albanian rebels in Kosovo. As international outrage grew over the atrocities perpetrated towards the ethnic Albanians, the United States and NATO intervened on behalf of the Albanians. The British Prime Minister Tony Blair was an enthusiastic and passionate supporter of the intervention. He took a hard line against President Milosevic, justified the intervention and promised to end the ethnic cleansing. President Bill Clinton on the other hand had to take the opinions of Congress before making any policy decisions. Blair had a highly negative view of Milosevic who was deemed as a barbarian. Blair strongly urged the United States to send ground forces if the air assault failed. However the air assault did not fail. Blair was given the award of Charlemagne of Germany of trying to maintain peace in Europe. He gave a doctrine of international community in Chicago in which he recommended ideas to fight for global peace. Despite an alleged rift between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton regarding the deployment of ground troops in Kosovo, both sides eventually reconciled their views following the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo. Blair also reportedly during the conflict embarked on diplomacy to reinforce the resolve and unity of the NATO alliance against doubts created by certain analysts regarding the conduct of the Kosovo campaign. Blair-Bush relationship The election of President George W. Bush was considered to have a negative impact in the relations between the United States and United Kingdom. However the strategic relationship between both countries was strenghtened. The 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States caused a major concern for both countries. The United Kingdom was a victim of the 7/7 London Subway bombings. Blair was reported to have said that the UK must join the US in the war on terrorism because of shared values (“White House”).British forces also participated in the military operations against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In 2003, Britain was one of the few countries to send troops to fight against Saddam Hussein. The relations between the United Kingdom and United States were at a weak point as of September 2001. The Clinton administration had launched several unilateral bombing actions in Iraq. There were other disagreements also like the Kyoto agreement on climate change. Labor politicians were against Blair for allowing Britain to participate in US anti-missile program. Britain at the start of the twenty first century saw itself between different sets of international relations. The American led unipolar order was characterized by various hard and soft powers. Blair favored the approach of retaining close ties with the United States in order to extract various favors and influence. There were negative impacts of being associated with unpopular policies. Some researchers pointed out that Blair’s religious beliefs shaped Britain’s strategic relationship with the United States. Blair had repeatedly stressed that the war on terrorism was between the West of the Christian enlightenment and dark evil forces. Under Prime Minister Tony Blair, the United Kingdom actively participated in the war against terrorism. British forces were based in Afghanistan to fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces that had regrouped and launched several attacks in the South of the country. British troops were actively involved in military operations in the province of Helmand. Blair advocated the use of hard power of military force combined with the soft power of diplomacy and sanctions to combat terrorism. Blair however faced repercussions as some people argued that British support for the United States in the war on terrorism created many strategic problems. They pointed out to the huge casualties created in Iraq and Afghanistan due to allied bombing. The resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the extension of American operations in Somalia and the dangerous rhetoric towards Iran were seen as examples of the negative aspects of the war on terrorism. The war on terrorism has also been criticized for allowing Al Qaeda to increase its support. Blair however believed that the United Kingdom can protect its security only by allying with the United States. He also said that there were many invisible frontlines in the war on terrorism. Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and other Muslim states were battle lines in the war on terrorism. The United Kingdom under Blair provided extensive support to the United States by launching cruise missiles, Special Forces and thousands of soldiers to topple the Taliban regime. It has currently deployed four thousand soldiers as members of the ISAF in Afghanistan ("US Department of State"). Even before the invasion of Iraq, Blair and his inner circle were preparing justification for British intervention in the Iraq conflict. Blair called for regime change while discussing Iraq with President Bush in Crawford, Texas in April 2002 (Smith). Blair had advocated that efforts should focus on eliminating Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction by using weapons inspectors. However he had agreed to the use of force to oust Saddam Hussein by force if it was required. This posed a dilemna for Blair as there was no legal justification for the conflict. The US interpretation of international law was different from that of Iraq. Another difficulty was that the United States was not a member of the International Criminal Court while Britain was. Research has concluded that the Blair government did not believe the Iraq’s WMD was a threat but Saddam Hussein needed to be removed (Smith). Further the British knew that there were no links between Iraq and terrorism despite efforts by the Bush administration. The United States saw that the British could allow the use of bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia. Further they could send forty thousand ground troops, aircraft and naval warships to assist the US effort. Both Blair and Bush would acknowledge that the war against Iraq did not go well. Both leaders saw their popularity decline because of the failure to conduct the Iraq war successfully. Five years after the invasion of Iraq, there were no signs of weapons of mass destruction. Despite rhetoric that Iraq would be transformed into a hub of democracy in the region, the country had become polarized with the three communities against each other. The threat of sectarian conflict was also high while Al Qaeda had increased its presence in Iraq. Future of UK/US relationship The election of the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was seen as the beginning of a new era between the United States and United Kingdom. However there was little doubt that the Brown would change the strategic relationship between the United States and United Kingdom (Morgan). Brown was a firm believer of the Anglo-Saxon strategic relationship. Further the government also continued to support the British military and reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. The British armed forces continue to launch military operations against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the south of Afghanistan. The United Kingdom has close ties with its European neighbors. It believes in using multilateral international institutions to resolve world crisis. The United States however believes that this is only one option. The UK also believes that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute would be a key strategy to crush the threat of terrorism. The United States however insists that weapons of mass destruction and terrorism must be eliminated. Currently there are many issues which confront the United States and United Kingdom. There are some key differences despite the close cooperation in the war on terrorism. The US for instance has called upon the UK to crack down on religious seminaries and review its liberal free speech and political asylum laws. These laws have led to many radical Muslim clerics seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui are some of the terrorists who were based in the United Kingdom. The US has expressed its disappointment over the slow measures taken by the UK against surveillance of terrorists. The United Kingdom has also tried to balance its policies towards terrorism with the protection of civil liberties. British courts have refused to extradite terrorist suspects to the United States on the pretext of insufficient evidence. The United Kingdom has also expressed its dissatisfaction with the US treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo bay and the policy of detaining terrorist suspects outside the US. The British government feared that such policies prevented them from winning the hearts and minds of Muslims. However both sides insist that despite these differences, cooperation between both nations is vital because of the common threat of terrorism. Prime Minister Brown pledged to continue the stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan ("BBC News"). The United Kingdom believes that its presence in Afghanistan is vital in fighting terrorism because many plots uncovered in the country have been traced to Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Iraq they share the same goal of creating a viable democracy and rooting out the insurgency. However the withdrawal of British troops was seen by Washington as an end to commitment in Iraq. The British government however insisted that it was turning the southern provinces over to the Iraqi government. Prime Minister Brown contended that the reduction in forces would not prevent Britain from supporting the reconstruction and stabilization of Iraq. The US however argued that Brown wanted to withdraw British troops from Iraq. Iran remains another common policy concern for both countries. While the US has pursued a policy of confronting and isolating Iran, the United Kingdom has been using diplomacy to persuade Iran to drop its nuclear weapons program (Wilson). Conclusion The United Kingdom and United States have enjoyed good historical relations since World War II. The cold war witnessed mutual cooperation between both countries in containing the USSR and stopping communism. Since the end of the cold war, Britain has pursued a special relationship with the United States. This relationship was also witnessed by the personal relationship between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton. Both leaders were seen as having common political views. Blair supported the NATO intervention in Kosovo. The British sent its air force to bomb Serbian positions. Blair also took a hard line stance towards Serbian leader Milosevic. There were differences over the use of ground troops should the air campaign fail. However the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo did not create a rift between both allies. Blair also backed Clinton in 1998 when Iraq was bombed for its weapons of mass destruction capabilities. The strategic relationship continued with the election of President George W Bush. Prime Minister Blair sent British troops to fight along side US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Blair had been a passionate supporter of the war against terrorism arguing that it was a threat to British values. The British intervention in Iraq was done to oust the Saddam Hussein regime. Both Blair and Bush faced a decline in their popularities for failing to prosecute the war in Iraq properly. The election of Prime Minister Gordon Brown has not seen any substantial change in the UK-US relationship. Brown has continued to support the Afghanistan war while reducing the number of soldiers in Iraq. However the Brown government believes in continuing to stabilizing and reconstructing Iraq. Works Cited: McCausland, Jeffrey D. "U.S.-UK RELATIONS AT THE START OF THE 21st CENTURY." Strategic Studies Institute. January 2006. Strategic Studies Institute. 21 Apr 2008 . Archick, Kristin . "The United Kingdom: Issues for the United States." CRS Report for Congress (2008): Herbert, Douglas. "The U.S. and Britain: A special relationship." CNN.com. December 2000. CNN. 21 Apr 2008 . Assinder , Nick . "Blair's Kosovo options." BBC News. May 1999. BBC News. 21 Apr 2008 . “President Bush Prime Minister Blair Discuss War on Terrorism” White House. July 2003 < http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030717-9.html> "NATO: Coalition Contributions to the War on Terrorism." US Department of State. October 2002. US Department of State. 21 Apr 2008 . Smith , Michael . "Blair planned Iraq war from start." Times Online. May 2005. Times Online. 21 Apr 2008 . Morgan, Adrian . "Will Gordon Brown Maintain the US "Special Relationship"?." Western Resistance. July 2007. Western Resistance. 21 Apr 2008 . "US most important UK ally - Brown ." BBC News. Nov 2007. BBC News. 21 Apr 2008 . Wilson , Graeme . "UK-US relationship strengthening, says Gordon Brown." Daily Telegraph. Nov 2007. 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