Us Involvement In Foreign Conflicts Essay

Throughout American history the U.S has tried to stay out of national disputes but sometimes it is necessary for them to take action. In all the wars ever fought in the world only two have been fought on U.S soil and one of the wars was between our own country(Civil War).

Over the course of history, the United States has a reputation of getting involved with other nations to sort out disputes, arguments, conflicts, wars, etc. One specific example of U.S. Military Involvement is the 1980 El Salvador Civil War. The El Salvador Civil War was a civil war that lasted from 1980 to about 1992. The war slowly arose due to little uprisings in society, promises to improve economy and lifestyles that were never fulfilled, and the push of communism beliefs onto the people who didn’t believe in them. The U.S. Military would not get involved unless their is a violation of human rights, or if mankind is being put into harm's way. The U.S. involved themselves in the Civil War of El Salvador because they had enough evidence and support for specific claims, had the appropriate authority, and fought for an outcome that suited the needs of humanity.

American involvement in the war can ensure the rest of the world will hear a strong message; the United States will not hesitate to take action. Through this our country can prove that we are more than a new fledgling land but a full-fledged country

Should the United States enter into military intervention in foreign countries for humanitarian reason? Why? Why not? Under what conditions should the U.S. intervene if at all?

For the longest time America has been known to ally with foreign countries, or be involved with few disputes in other countries. Yes, we need to trade and keep peace. However, what is better peace or to not be involved at all? Now, is a circumstance where we are stuck in Iraq and Afghan over issues such as terroristic activities but why did they start? America does have its own gas storage, not only that but there are areas where oil can be dug up from and bought from within borders and it could be sold amongst the few of us, instead we bought it from the middle east and when they fought amongst each other we got involved to keep the trade going, when it was none of our business. Yes World Peace is a great concept, But it doesn’t work, there will always be problems and trying to fix them only seems to make it worst, American forces should serve to defend and only attack after we’ve been attacked not used to help end civil wars or so on, it’s not our business, and most definitely not our problem but due to us stepping in, it becomes one.

Imagine living in a world where your own homeland is under attack and you can’t rely on any other parts of the world to send you help. There are a multitude of reasons as to why we urgently need the interventionism policy in the United States. One of the biggest reasons would be while the Holocaust was occurring in Germany we were well aware about it, but didn’t come to intervene until it was too late. Along with this, another reason would be to maintain the allies that we have. Although the United States needs to consider the financial and human costs, overall it should follow a foreign policy of interventionism when it’s necessary to prevent humanitarian catastrophe and to maintain our allies.

Many people say we need to focus on our own problems; although, some of our conflicts are connected with the world! We have many trading resources throughout the globe; therefore, we should have the right to intervene in a conflict involving a country we trade with (Duggan).

An example of intervention is when the U.S. attempted to mediate the Venezuela- Great Britain dispute in 1895. Great Britain and Venezuela was disputing about who should get the gold. The U.S. intervened to try and stop the dispute. They used the Monroe Doctrine to make sure that Great Britain couldn’t take over any more land. And that is was intervention is, a foreign country(America) getting involved with other countries matters (Great Britain and Venezuela).

Throughout the course of history, the United States has remained consistent with its national interest by taking many different actions in foreign policy. There have been both immediate and long term results of these actions. Foreign policy is the United States policy that defines how we deal with other countries economically and politically. It is made by congress, the president, and the people. Some of the motivations for United States foreign policy are national security, economics, and idealism. The United States entry into World War I in 1917 and the escalation of the Vietnam War in 1964 and the both had great impact on the United States.

When problems arise people step up and take responsibility. Like in the quote from Elie Wiesel, human suffering really is everyone’s problem. In war and times of conflict, America has intervened because they believe that it is their problem to try and solve. This is evident through speeches in World War I, propaganda in World War II, letters during Vietnam, biographies concerning the Soviet War in Afghanistan, and speeches from the War on Terror.

I think it would depend upon the situation and who it affects. If it affect the United States allies then they should intervene. But if it is something that another country can figure out and doesn’t affect US, then there should be no intervention. It should more than likely be in the best interest for the US. In many cases in which the US interfered with foreign affair often lead to Wars. By making a deal with Spain, they took Philippine’s and interfered with their national affairs which lead to the American-Filipino war. Another example would be the intervention with Cuban affairs. This country wanted to create an independent constitution and the Platt Amendment was created and allowed the US to take over naval bases for their benefit and

Our involvement in Iraq led to the death of over 100,000 people including innocent civilians following the invasion and occupation of Iraq (Walt, S, 2011). Similarly, the arming of Nicaraguan Contra rebels during the Reagan administration is a clear example of how American Exceptionalism led to unnecessary foreign entanglement (Myre, G, 2014). The US supplied rebels with weapons to fight the leftist Sandinista and over 30,000 people were killed with neither side coming out on top (Myre, G, 2014). It was later discovered that the Reagan administration had sold weapons to Iran and given the proceeds to the Contras against congressional law (Myre, G, 2014). Looking back on the incident reveals several instances where we could have done significantly better. Granting that hindsight is 20/20, it is a fair conclusion to say that had the US not been so hasty to solve the problem singlehandedly and involved more likeminded institutions or nations, the outcome could have been more

Washington and Monroe believed that the United States should not get involved in European affairs, and in hindsight, all foreign affairs, such as ones in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Many Americans, including me, believe that we should not meddle in others affairs and keep to ourselves. There are several strong political, and ethical arguments both sides can make. Personally, I do not consider the other side to be wrong, there is truth to both ends of this debate, but then again, the same can be said for all debates. As someone who supports staying neutral and keeping to ourselves. I shall start with the pros of staying somewhat isolated from foreign affairs and problems.

In their book American Foreign Policy since World War 2, Steven W. Hook, and John Spanier take a historical look at American foreign policy. Since its independence, all through to the start of the 20th century, the United States had a policy of detachment. This was rooted in the believe that Europe, the only other meaningful powerful in the world in the 18th and 19th century, had intrinsic issues related to feudism that kept the continent in a constant state of war (Hook & Spanier, 2015). The U.S on its part was far away from Europe and had a unique chance to chart a different course, one free from the troubles of Europe. As a democracy free from the class systems of Europe and hence maintain peace and stability (Hook & Spanier, 2015). To maintain this peace and stability, it was in the United States interests to maintain detachment from Europe. In fact, Monroe wrote that Europe and its flawed system was evil and America should strive as much as possible to stay away from it (Hook & Spanier, 2015). However, in the 20th century, this policy of detachment was put to the test when the United States was drawn into the first and second world wars by external factors. This led the United States to get more engaged in global affairs. The idea behind engagement was to promote the ideals of democracy which, the U.S believed were the pillars of peace, as well as to protect itself from aggressors like Japan in the Second World War. After the

The United States has been a super power for decades, and since America has always involved themselves in other countries' problems. Instead of isolationism, the country has practiced getting involved. Since the Monroe Presidency, America has been named the World's police force. Dispelling anarchists, and stopping coos, the united states portrays itself as the world protector. Since Monroe, some Americans have felt that isolation is the way to go, and most feel that it is our right to offer assistance. Two recent incidents, Operation Desert Storm and The War in Bosnia have allowed the United States to show off it's strength, both on the military and political level. It has also given the chance for America to evaluate it's foreign policy,