United States Military Action Abroad

UNITED STATES MILITARY ACTION ABROAD

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United States Military Action Abroad

Mitigating conflict, keeping peace and reconciliation war- torn States is one of the most convoluted challenges facing the international community. Armed conflicts among states corrode every dimension in society: law and order, human rights, education, social, economic development, and the general environment. Every year an approximated half a million people die in armed conflicts among states. The United States of America government has a profound reputation of stepping into curb acts of terror and violence in other countries. By some counts, the United States of America have been involved in more than fifty significant military actions in the last fifty years. The United States military occupies a central and vital position in solving and mitigating international conflicts and their effects.

One of the factors that make the United States have a profound effect on the world is the existence of its foreign policy. The policy has evolved over the years, but some important basic points remain the same.  The system seems to revolve around promoting democracy, supporting liberal internationalism, fighting international terrorism expanding and developing a strong world economy. Significant changes in the policy were made due to positive and negative occurrences in the civil war (Kaufman 2010). Numerous international events involve the United States can be etched back to the foreign policy that was formed after the civil war.

The airstrike in Syria by the United States of America military in September 2016 is a classic event which the United States military is heavily involved in mitigating terrorism. The attack was by the United States Army and aimed at the Islamic militant group known as the ISIS. Concerning the foreign policy, this attack can be traced back to a policy known as the Bush doctrine. This policy was put in place after the 9/11 attacks so as to fight terrorism. An unfortunate occurrence in this attack is that it ended up killing Syrian military groups and many innocent civilians instead of the ISIS terrorist (Barnard & Mazzetti, 2016).

 Another event seen is the intervention in Libya by the United States military in conjunction with NATO against the dictatorial President Gadaffi that occurred in 2011. This occurrence can be traced back to the new policies created by the Roosevelt administration that entail interference in the affairs of other states. Unlike the Syria airstrike attacks, this was a successful mission that led to Gadaffi being thrown out of power. The former Libyan president funded terror operations across the United States such as the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing and the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. This event is faced by both positive and negative criticism with the majority of the people claiming that the intervention stabilized the country's political field (New Policies for Latin America, Asia nd).

Over the years, the United States of America has been regarded as the world superpower policeman. This can be attributed to the global balance that has allowed the country to develop and grow in virtual isolation.  This growth has been attributed to various historical aspects since the year 1865. To begin with, the World War II and the cold war contributed to this tittle. During this period the US built its military capabilities up. The war negatively affected countries such as; Germany, Japan, France and the Great Britain. This left only the US and the USSR as the only countries which would dominate the world's powers. After the World War II, the US engaged in a war with the Soviet Union. In this conflict, the US was the leader of the free world and was expected to maintain some degree of order in the world and ensure it ran correctly thus attaining the status of a superpower policeman (Jeff 2012).

Secondly, the U.S policy towards the Latin America played a very significant role.  This policy sought to review the Monroe doctrine which was used by the American diplomats to warm European powers against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere. In the year 1904, President Roosevelt changed the doctrine. The shifts in the doctrine implied that the no Latin American nations adhering to the acceptable standards of behavior should fear interventions from the United States. Roosevelt indicated that intervention by a civilized nation was only acceptable if the Latin American nation committed chronic wrongdoings. He continued to state that heinous cases may force the United State to exercise an international police power (New Policies for Latin America, Asia, nd).

Lastly, the treaty of Paris in the year 1898 enhanced the role of the United States as an international policeman. This is the period where the Americans fought against Spain, won and gained territories outside the America's natural boundaries such as the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico.  This event led to America not only securing her status as the world by the might of industry but also above all international security.

 With the United States being recognized as the superpower policeman, it has undertaken many policing roles since the World War II, and various incidents provide proof. The first incident is the Korean War. The Korean War was a result of North Korea invasion to South Korea. The northern Korea was being backed by China and they employed communists' economic systems. In this scenario, America assumed the policing role and together with the UN they pushed the North Koreans back to their territory and created peace among the two countries. The second scenario is during the Gulf war in the early 1990s. The war resulted from Iraq invasion to Kuwait. The United States assumed the policing role and backed Kuwait driving the Iraq residents in Kuwait back home. A similar manifestation of this character is seen in the facilitation of peace efforts by the United States in alliance with NATO to maintain peace between the Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo who are in a constant war due to ethnic tension and overlapping territorial aspirations (Bideleux 1998).