Modern Imperialism

by master5570

Modern Imperialism

Many Americans view their country in a light of honorable pride, thinking that it is right that we use our great power to police the globe. However, there has nearly always been some ulterior motive for our involvement in other countries’ affairs. Vietnam for example was simply a way to combat The Soviets indirectly and our recent interludes with Middle Eastern countries for oil. From questionable alliances to outright war, our country’s foreign policy has become increasingly imperialistic. Throughout the last fifty years, the United States has abused its power for economic or political gains often using peaceful motives as a guise in order to accomplish imperialistic goals. When the U.S. first became involved in Vietnam, our country was finally finished with World War II and now squaring off with communism around the world. The U.S. had already lost china to communism (Moore) and wasn’t about to let all of Asia fall from it’s influence. So, when the French began to loose control of their Vietnamese colony, we began to train some of the still loyal South Vietnamese to fight. However, the communist strength in Vietnam was far underestimated by military planners in the U.S. By 1965 President Johnson was faced with a difficult choice, he could either become the first president to loose a war or he could turn the conflict into an all out war. He chose to ramp up U.S. involvement to 300,000 troops and by 1968, 500,000 troops (Harring) were fighting to stop the spread of communism. It seemed that America might win her crusade on communism, when in 1968, the Tet offensive (Gail 34) launched by the communists in Vietnam swept across Vietnam, with guerilla attacks blistering the country. Although this offensive was eventually pushed back, it showed that the United States would have to either commit itself to war in Vietnam entirely, or loose another Asian country to communism. The U.S. began a slow removal of troops from Vietnam and by 1975 all American troops were home (Shakwi). The Paris Peace agreement officially ended our involvement in the war, but only two years after it was signed the communist north attacked the south. When all was said and done, what exactly did we accomplish? Death, destruction, and the rape of a country, all to stop the spread of a system of government. While we didn’t establish colonies, we did at least try to impress our ways upon another country, and fought an indirect war against the Soviet Union.

While the Vietnam War is an excellent example of U.S. imperialism, some recent incidents seem more relevant to the idea of U.S. imperialism today. Conflicts such as those in Kosovo, Lebanon, and perhaps most importantly Iraq. The conflict commonly known as Desert Storm commenced on Jan. 16, 1991 (AETN), with U.S. led coalition air strikes on Iraq. These were eventually followed by a brief, successful ground war. So far, things seemed to be going well enough; the threat to oil that was Iraq had been subdued, and a clear-cut resolution seemed forthcoming. However, the UN imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iraq, limiting its oil exports, and controlling where the money was spent. This ultimately led to revolt from both northern Kurds, and southern Shiites. Continuing into 2002, the U.S. used spies instead of inspections officers and used light air raids to keep Iraq in check (Peterson 2). Unfortunately, our harassment of Iraq did not end there, with recent fears of Iraq resurfacing it seems as though the United States is bent on attacking Iraq once again. The reasons for this are shifting and unreasonable at best, ranging from chemical and nuclear weapons to Al Qaeda links. Iraq has very recently even agreed to destroy the weapons that spurred the aggression in the first place. President Bush and other high-ranking officials however still believe that we need to go to war. One is forced to think that perhaps we don’t have a just cause in Iraq.

Suppose you go to Washington and try to get at your Government. You will always find that while you are politely listened to, the men really consulted are the men who have the biggest stake -- the big bankers, the big manufacturers, the big masters of commerce, the heads of railroad corporations and of steamship corporations ... The masters of the Government of the United States are the combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States. - President Wilson, 1913 (Moore 2)

More often than not, our government’s imperialistic actions are pushed by money, and tragically, the American public is made to believe that it is their moral responsibility to take up arms. Such is the case throughout our history, and it is difficult to tell where our current path will lead. Will we defy the UN and risk global war, continue to bully the world slowly into submission, or will we be steered from our destructive path by a new age of reason and peace? It is impossible to measure the amount of suffering we have caused in the world. Countless have been slain before our might, and perhaps most tragically of all many of us are ignorant of this truth, literally blinded by our greed. We can only hope for a better future, and try not to repeat our country’s past mistakes.