Going through the history of International relations in the post- cold war era, you can observe several political crises originating from the military and clandestine operations of the United States. This overflow of international crises dealing with America’s operations are better defined as” US interventions”. This concept of intervention is a well- known term in the political history of the world, especially during the 90s in the United States, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s presidency. Not a single country has ever meddled with international affairs irrelevant to its country than the United States, However, in some periods Soviet Union was playing US exceptional current role in the world. Through history, it has been proved that US foreign policy is basically laid upon its national interests, whether political or economical. These policies are mostly legitimized by expressing moralities and ethical issues. But the motivation attracting US to persue such policies is to introduce himself as a new economic and political ruler for the world, as William Blum indicated; “The engine of American foreign policy has been fueled not by a devotion to any kind of morality, but rather by the necessity to serve other imperatives”.1
The end of Cold War provided United States with a kind of unprecedented preponderance over other countries. US economy and its defense spending a much greater than its rivals, “its economy is 40% larger than the second country. U.S. military spending ($343 billion in the year 2000) is 69 percent greater than that of the next five highest nations combined” (qtd. in. Zoltan Grossman, 2001)2. US is now ruling the world in higher education, scientific research and advance technology so that others can hardly catch up with this superpower. This extraordinary strategic position of the US is a great implication for its foreign policy. When Soviet Union has gone, US leaders can pursue their goals without worrying how others will respond and these goals will undoubtedly affect other countries. During the 90s, United States had the most number of international interventions all over the world, approximately 17 cases in which the most important ones occurred in Middle East. The major interventions are as follows: 1990 in Iraq (Gulf War), 1991 in Haiti, 1992-1994 in Yugoslavia, 1993- 1995 in Bosnia, 1994- 1996 in Haiti, 1995 in Croatia, 1996- 1997 in Zaire (Congo), 1997 in Liberia, 1998 in Sudan, 1998 in Afghanistan, 1998 in Iraq, 1999 in Yugoslavia, 2001 in Macedonia, 2001 in Afghanistan and so many other sanctions signed in UN Security council against Iran, Iraq and Cuba. All of these military interventions can be defined through the idea of New World Order first stated by George H. W. Bush, which US administrators have always been thinking “they” are to realize this “Order”- believed to be a real disorder by others- by all means.
Here, we will be discussing some more important interventions. 1990, After Iraq invades Kuwait, the U.S. deployed forces in the Persian Gulf which turned Washington against its former Iraqi ally Saddam Hussein. U.S. supported the Kuwaiti monarchy and the Muslim fundamentalist monarchy against the secular Iraq regime. US drop more bombs than in all of Vietnam or World War II, the air campaign kills between 100,000 and 200,000 Iraqis and destroys civilian infrastructure. US allow Iraqi helicopters use of “No-fly Zone” airspace to crush the uprising. Relentless bombing for more than 40 days and nights, against one of the most advanced nations in the Middle East, devastating its ancient and modern capital city; depleted uranium weapons incinerating people, causing cancer; blasting chemical and biological weapon storage and oil facilities; poisoning the atmosphere to a degree perhaps never happened anywhere; burying soldiers alive, deliberately; sanctions continued to this day multiplying the health problems; perhaps a million children dead by now from malnutrition and disease. Iraq was the strongest military power among the Arab states. This may have been their crime. Another reason dealing US intervention in pulling out Iraq from Kuwait is “not to keep oil prices low, but to keep Washington, Wall Street, and their allies in charge of setting oil prices” (qtd. in. Noam Chomsky, 1991)3. “It’s been a leading, driving doctrine of U.S. foreign policy since the 1940s that the vast and unparalleled energy resources of the Gulf region will be effectively dominated by the United States and its clients, and, crucially, that no independent, indigenous force will be permitted to have a substantial influence on the administration of oil production and price.” (qtd. In. Noam Chosky, 1991)4.
The other crucial intervention which is called a “humanitarian intervention” ocuured in Bosnia and Yugoslavia during 1993- 1995 and 1999. Other so-called “humanitarian interventions” were centered in the Balkan region of Europe, after the 1992 breakup of the federation of Yugoslavia. The U.S. watched for three years as Serb forces killed Muslim civilians in Bosnia, before its launched decisive bombing raids in 1995. Even then, it never intervened to stop atrocities by Croatian forces against Muslim and Serb civilians, because those forces were aided by the U.S. In 1999, the U.S. bombed Serbia to force President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw forces from the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo. The bombing intensified Serbian expulsions and killings of Albanian civilians from Kosovo, and caused the deaths of thousands of Serbian civilians, even in cities that had voted strongly against Milosevic. When a NATO occupation force enabled Albanians to move back, U.S. forces did little or nothing to prevent similar brutality against Serb and other non-Albanian civilians. The U.S. was viewed as a biased player.
1998, in Sudan the US had missile attacks on a pharmaceutical plant alleged to be “terrorist” nerve gas plant. Over 30000 civilians were injured. US blocks UN war-crimes inquiry at the Security Council.
The last but not the least intervention is still going on. In 2003, to pursue its post 9/11 policies, US invaded Iraq with large ground, air and naval forces oust government of Saddam Hussein and established a new government. Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, most people in the world agree that the perpetrators need to be brought to justice, without killing many thousands of civilians in the process. But unfortunately, the U.S. military has always accepted massive civilian deaths as part of the cost of war. The military is now poised to kill thousands of foreign civilians, in order to prove that killing U.S. civilians is wrong.
“It is a big idea: a new world order… only the United States has both the moral standing & the means to back it up.”
Former President George Bush, USA Jan. 29, 1991
What is today very much apparent is that US is showing its crisis management all over the world roling as an international police. The final goal US is trying to obtain is “the extension of its political and economic hegemony as wide as possible”.
References:
1. Blum, William. “A Brief History of US Interventions: 1945 to the Present”, Z magazine, June 1999. See also www.thirdworldtraveler.com/ Blum
2. Grossman, Zoltan. “A Century of US Military Interventions: From Wounded Knee to Afghanistan”, Znet, September 2001. Web Site: Academic.evergreen.edu
3. Chomsky, Noam. “Gulf War Pullout”, Zmagazine, Febraury 1991. Web Site: http://www.chomsky.info/articles
4. www.al-bab.com
Azadeh Ghahghaei did her BA in English language and literature at the University of tehran. She is currently doing her MA in American Studies at the University of Tehran, Institute for North American and European Studies.She is mostly interested in international relations, US foreign policy and US cinema.