So everyday when you wake up you turn on the news and you might always hear something about American military activity overseas. You’re probably wondering why are their troops or American presence around the globe. But the real question what should be the limitations of American involvement abroad?
American intervention has happened since the end of the late 1800s when the U.S fought Spain in the Spanish – American war when the U.S won control over Guam , Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Then fought another war against filipino rebels. Which mark the so called beginning of American imperialism and then ultimately the increase of American intervention around the world. Lane Kenworthy and author on ” U.S Military Intervention Abroad” made a brief summary on the history the explanation of why the U.S military is spread around the world . First he explains about the fact that America is playing the role of being the world police and also the fact that the United States is the world’s leading superpower. believing that ” this principle should be absolute”. But the primary goals for the U.S were the national security interest and for self defense. But the peak of intervention was right after the end of world war 2 and at the start of the cold war. But of course this would have big effects on lives and on the economy as Lane listed the amount of deaths all of the wars the U.S fought throughout the 20th century and the percentage of its GDP of each war. He even said that if this continues then this will most likely spill out more to the public and it might raise public concern. I can agree because of the sole purpose of the U.S acting as a world police and making sure that it will achieve its goal of that protecting and establishing peace around the world. But also we should consider of what we conflicts or even affairs we should stay away from. Or in other words limit our involvement in foreign or military affairs.
This source could have the ability to grab a lot of people’s attention because everyday citizens always wonder what are the reasons why we get involved in everything . People can agree that the limitation should be in placed . Since we get involved in everything in the world citizens would most likely have different opinions and views about military involvement around the world especially when comes to backing groups who are a fighting the other opponent. People need to pay attention of what’s really going on based on this source it really grabs peoples attention as they well aware of the situations that are happening around the world and paying close attention to what actions the military are taking . It’s clear to me that this source provides a brief overview from an expert of military intervention. The readers will understand and get a bit of a deeper understanding of American intervention its background and what are the causes and effects.
Now let’s discuss about a particular interview. Kinzer is a reporter for the Boston Globe speaking with an expert Gross on American intervention . So he did at the beginning discuss about the past history and the beginning of American involvement and also the stretching of the American military . In this interview he’s basically talking about what were the causes and effects of American military involvement and how it is still showing the amount of power that can be deployed into many parts of the world. A good example are the amount of American Military bases in each continent as most of these bases were established after the end of World War 2. Even after World War 2 he says that many people viewed the United States as being an empire as it does have territories and some self Governing islands . He also explained that we got involved in both world wars and the aftermath ” shaped the world that we live in today”. But now in modern times we get involved and leave countries and tragic status. Which lead many people to question about our actions overseas and the decisions we make.
I think the audience should really take this with a grain of salt but one particular part is when he mentioned about why we entered World War 2 well the obvious part was the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor then we declare war against them. Back then the public supported the war effort a lot knowing that freedom and democracy was at stake and that we needed to fight . Like he said before we entered the war for a good cause which is to restore the peace and defend freedom and democracy. But then after World War 2 the cold war happened with a series of proxy wars. At that point people started to have changing and different opinions as throughout the cold war the United States kept backing countries who are fighting against communism by providing weapons and money. This source is clear for the readers as all of these facts are coming from an expert who just basically summarized the past causes and effects of American intervention or what some people might call it American imperialism which can make sense since the U.S has overseas territories , but either ways most people don’t agree with considering the United States as an empire. As this information is clear on what people want to know about American involvement and American superiority in other parts of the world .
I learned that there should be restrictions on what purposes that would make us get involved in local conflicts that would only seem like that’s threatening national security , but if there’s no conflict then we shouldn’t get involved since it is not our problem . Some people can agree that we get involved too much or we get involved into every global conflict . We would only intervene of the U.S is being threatened then there is where we should commence action. As the goal is to contain the problem from spreading to other problems of the world.
Now the U.S has becoming increasingly involved throughout the recent decade. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 the U.S has kept doing its job of acting as the world police force of stopping humanitarian crisis like the crisis in Bosnia and kosovo as the U.S and Nato worked together to take down the Serbian President who was committing ethnic cleansing which is basically a war crime . As this is the sole mission to prevent any tragedy from happening again . Most importantly stop the accursen of military dictators who are disturbing the peace around the world. But is U.S intervention actually keeping and maintaining peace ? There has been some mishaps and a few hiccups here and there when it comes to civilians being caught in the crossfire from American fire . I think when it comes to America being involved they always have to keep in mind of the safety of civilians . But people do sometimes criticize the U.S for aiding countries who are also fighting to maintain peace but civilian are getting caught in the crossfire.
But mainly when I meant about the U.S maintain peace the real question is are they actually restoring peace and maintaining it. Throughout recent years the U.S main goal is overthrowing dictators . But it doesn’t seem like their not maintaining the stabilization that is really needed to prevent future tragedies from happening . The main reason why we get involved is that the United States cares about the security and stabilization of the world . That’s also maily the reason why the United States is part of NATO a military alliance thats its main goal is to prevent future major global conflicts since the end of the second world war . But usually the United States is the nation that leads most of the worlds military operations to combat dictatorships. Another reason why we intervene is eliminate the risk of military regimes from gaining power as the United States believes that they can’t be threat to national security if we don’t take any action against them. But the United States doesn’t always decide if we should intervene . One example is when NATO alliance decided to overthrow the libyan dictator gaddafi which the operation proves the capability of the NATO alliance. A quote from the ” The slippery Slope of U.S intervention ” in an interview with former president Obama said that” Our participation in the coalition that overthrew Qaddafi in Libya was the right thing to do”.
The end of American intervention has been a newer recent topic thats being talked about and still being mentioned as recent when President trump pulled back troops from Syria. People even go far as saying that we shouldn’t even get involved in the first place . When we intervene in Iraq the goal was to bring stability and order , but it seems like we’re far from reaching the goal. According to a New York times article since troops are coming home the war is far from over . Even looking back on the money we spend and all the contributions we made but there is still no signs of peace coming to the regions. Also that its time to focus on other foreign or domestic issues. But still the real questions is what are gonna be U.S future plans for the middle east ? Or will there ever be stability?
Overall we really have no idea of when theres or if there’s gonna be any progress or changes in American foreign policy. From people calling America an empire for once for gaining territory after fighting a war with Spain. I learned that the U.S military gets involved whenever there is a conflict that would concern national security , but ever since World War 2 the United States has been consistently involved in foreign affairs and being part of alliances like NATO and the United Nations to hopefully avoid tragedies . But now with the conflicts in the middle east , backing Ukraine against Russia , trade wars with china there should limitations placed that will make more cautious of our actions . But overall there should be limitations of involvement basically what we should or should not get involved in. But how will U.S involvement be in the future and what will might be the causes and effects for the United States and the rest of the world ?
Print this page
