US Post Cold War Interventionism Foreign Policy - Coursework Example

Running head: US post Cold War interventionism foreign policy Lecturer presentation Introduction The interventionism foreign policy that United States adopted in the post Cold War era has left the country and citizens more insecure than ever before. Since the Second World War ended in 1945, the United States military has engaged in five major conflicts in different parts of the globe, which have inflicted heavy economic damage on the country and loss of numerous lives of the combatants and civilian populations. The country has spent billions of dollars, which unfortunately has not translated into tangible sense of security for American interests within and outside the country’s borders. There is strong and credible argument that the United States foreign policy has encouraged widespread destabilization across the world, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. The use of the United States military should be restricted to situations where the country’s regional integrity, liberty, or sovereignty is under threat. President George Washington, the founding father of the United States, established the country’s first foreign policy that forbids the new republic to engage in political and power struggles in other countries across the globe. During his farewell speech in 1796, the president stated that “the great rule of conduct for the United States foreign policy is extending the countries commercial relations, with minimal political involvement as possible” (Gordon and Shapiro, 2004, p52). The president further stated that it was in the United States’ foreign policy to avoid unnecessary permanent alliances with any region across the globe (Dean 1999). Since that speech, the United States has been involved into numerous conflicts across all the six continents in the world. The main objective of the United States involvement in the Cold War was to deter expansion of communism across the world. According to Bleschloss and Talbot (1993), the progress of the Soviet Red Army in the Second World War established the Soviet Union as the most dominant power in European continent. The Red Army freed Eastern Europe from an unwarranted Nazi aggression which had claimed millions of lives in the continent. Blum (2003) noted that the Soviet Union had suffered the heaviest casualties, totalling over 20 million and the new government under President Josef Stalin was determined to prevent western style democracy to become entrenched in the European continent. From these developments, Winston Churchill, then English prime minister, warned of the descent of “iron curtain” in Europe (Cohen, 1993). This marked the beginning of the United States intervention in the region, driven by concerns about the prospect of communist rule in both Eastern and Western Europe. The opposing views pertaining to the political future of the European continent created conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States referred as the Cold War. The tension threatened outbreak of the Third World War as both countries engaged in massive military mobilizations and development of weapons of mass destruction. The competition for developing military weapons and desire to contain the Soviet influence caused a major shift in the United States foreign policy which became more inclined to aggression. According to Cameron (2005, p. 62), the United States committed itself to pursuing “a patient but firm, long-term policy for containing and eventually destroying the communism by indentifying and revealing major social and economic weaknesses associated with the ideology”. The resulting ideological war took over four decades, causing heavy economic losses to the American economy. Through Truman Doctrine, the United States made its first foreign intervention during peacetime. The country spent millions of dollars to support countries in Europe that were under threat of falling into soviet influence. These included Turkey and Greece in which the American government invested over $400 million and the Marshall Plan that offered economic stimulus package to stimulate eceomic recovery in Western Europe (Cameron, 2005). The Korean War broke out in 1950, signalling the first significant armed conflict during the Cold War. The United States military played a critical role in launching a military offensive that eventually drove out the communists supported North Korea invaders out of South Korean peninsula. Prior to the Korean War, the United States had invested heavily in developing its military capacity. Some of the developments included passing the National Security Act that created National Security Council (NSC) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to collect and analyse intelligence information across the world. Moreover, the military initiatives under President Harry Truman increased the commitment of the military by formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (Cohen, 1993). The United States military intervention in Vietnam remains the most disastrous and expensive war during the Cold War era. The military incursion in Vietnam War left over 48,000 American servicemen dead and more than 300, 000 wounded (Blum, 2003). The rationale for the war was to curtail the spread of communism in South East Asia region, but United States military suffered the most humiliating defeat and Vietnam fell to communist rule. Besides the heavy loss of lives and the eventual defeat, Vietnam War created a poor image of the United States in the globe. The heavy bombings, assassination of South Vietnam president and use of toxic chemicals against innocent population in a war that was highly covered in television increased the dislike for the United States in Asia and the world at large (Blum, 2003). The involvement of the United States military in Afghanistan after the Soviet forces invaded the Asian country in 1979 set the stage for a lengthy confrontation with terror organizations. According to Clarke (2004), the United States provided military and economic support for the local fighters in Afghanistan such as the mujahedeen to oust the soviet occupation. After the soviets were expelled from Afghanistan, the country disintegrated into anarchy and political instability because the United States ceased supporting the various factions in order to create a unitary state. The Taliban, an outlawed terror group took control of Afghanistan, creating a security crisis in the Middle East region. Some of the prominent terrorists supported by the United States during the war included Osama bin laden. Until his death last year, Osama bin laden led Al Qaida terror organization, which launched several bloody attacks on American interests both in the United States and overseas. Some notable attacks launched by the al-Qaida network included the bombing of American embassies in east Africa in 1998 and September 11 attacks in New York that left thousands of Americans dead and impacted a massive economic damage to the national and global economy. Following the September 11 attacks in New York, the United States launched pre-emptive military strikes in Afghanistan with the main objective of destroying the Taliban administration that supported terror organizations across the Middle East region, targeting American and its allies (Cameron, 2005). However, the war has dragged on up to date; billions of dollars have been spent in military expenditures subjecting American economy to severe economic strain. Besides the war in Afghanistan, American forces have been engaged in two major wars in the gulf region targeting Iraq in post Cold War era. The first gulf war took place immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The major intention of the war, under the “new order” was to drive Iraq forces out of Kuwait (Cameron, 2005, p. 86). However, Blix (2004) argues that protecting the United States oil interests in the gulf region was the major motivation of expelling Saddam Hussein forces from Kuwait. The first gulf war portrayed the United States as the aggressor with no regard for human rights. Iraq population, especially children and women, suffered from malnutrition after a “no fly zone” was imposed on the country after the war (Gordon and Shapiro 2004). The air sanctions prevented vulnerable population in the country from accessing food and medical supplies. These measure lead to a widespread hatred directed towards America especially in the Middle East and Arab world. The second gulf war was more extensive than the first and it eventually led to the overthrow of the incumbent Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. According to Cameron (2005), the war was a part of American pre-emptive campaign against global terrorism and Iraq was targeted for allegedly being in possession of weapons of mass destruction. However, after Saddam Hussein was overthrown and captured, no weapons of mass destruction were found. Iraq, a sovereign country needlessly fell to American interventionism policy adding yet another failed state in the world. The aftermath of the second gulf war definitely dented the credibility of the United States foreign policy further in the world. American citizens have suffered from heavy military expenditure in the gulf and endless conflicts in the country that has claimed several thousand lives of American troops and civilian population in Iraq. In addition, Iraq is more unstable than it was during the reign of Saddam Hussein and the possibility of the country sliding into civil strife remains a high possibility. The debate on whether the foreign pre-emptive military strikes have made the United States safer continues, but it is a reasonable guess that American is less safe than ever before. Afghanistan and Iraq remains highly unstable and there are real fears that they could degenerate and form hostile factions that could advance terrorism further. Conclusion It is unfortunate that American foreign policy of intervening in other countries affairs has perpetuated the image of the country as an aggressor nation, which supports unjustified pre-emptive wars on sovereign countries, clandestine destabilization, torture, political assassinations and foreign occupation. The policy has created hatred towards American citizens which the major motivation for virtually all terror attacks directed at the country and its allies. The faulty belief that terrorist hate the United States because of its economic prosperity and human rights threatens to cause more attacks and counterattacks, which could eventually sink the country’s economy into bankruptcy and unfathomable humiliation. Intensifying military interventions in foreign lands is no longer the remedy of the United States’ insecurity, but the major cause of even more terror attacks. It is the opportune time that the United States became cognizant that it has enough domestic challenges to address at home, rather than engaging in misguided policy of spreading its version of democracy and human freedom in foreign countries. It is no longer tenable to justify the United States policy by claiming that it is intended to safeguard American freedom and constitution. References Bleschloss, M., and Talbot, S.(1993). At highest level: The inside story of the end of the cold war. New York: Little Brown. Blix, H.(2004). Disarming Iraq. New York: Pantheon Blum, W.(2003). Killing hope: US military and CIA interventions since World War II . London: Zed Books. Cameron, F.(2005). US foreign policy after the cold war. Global hegemon or reluctant Sheriff? 2nd ed. London: Routledge, Clarke, R.(2004). Against all enemies: Inside America’s war on terrorism. New York: Free Press. Cohen, W.(1993). Cambridge history of American foreign relations. New York: Cambridge University Press. Dean, J. (1999). Evaluating the post cold war policy of the United States. Retrieved from http://www.comw.org/pda/jdean.pdf Gordon, P., and Shapiro, J.(2004). Allies at war: America, Europe and the crisis over Iraq. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Read More