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US Foreign Policy
The US foreign policy is the policy through which the US interacts with other nations. The overall goal of this policy is to secure democracy for the benefit of both the American and international communities.
883 Questions
When did the Iraq Afghanistan war begin officially?
When George bush Sr had a dept he had to pay with osama binladden. The binladdens were mad at George bush Sr. Bush Sr owed them money they were selling oil together and he didn't pay and the binladdens bombed us.
Why was the Monroe Doctrine an important part in the American foreign policy?
The Monroe Doctrine (actually written by John Quincy Adams), declared in December of 1823, was a superlative U.S. foreign policy statement. It was precipitated by various independence movements in South America and the U.S. government's desire to discourage European nations from colonizing the Americas. The doctrine claimed that the Americas ". . .are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers."
In the early 1900's, the Monroe Doctrine proved it's power. President Theodore Roosevelt aggressively enforced it during the Venezuela Border Dispute and in securing the independence of Cuba from abusive Spanish rule.
Why does the US give foreign aid?
the us giver forein aid for multople reasons.
1) Poor countries need aid, people with no food, nor reacources need help.
2) Strategically, giving aid to specific countries is a good way to create, increase, or damage relations with specific nations. I
3) Countries ( not always poor ones) that have simmilar traits to the U.S, that are threatened are given aid. For example Taiwan. Taiwan in the eyes of most nations a sovern country. And holds a democracy. China views it as none existent. And whises to control it. China has major human rights issues and treat's it's people like crap. So America sends Taiwan aid, and sol them 6.4 billion dollars in weapons this year. It not only is protectin the taiwanese, but stopping communists china's expansion.
How was the relationship of Japan and the US during 1930-1941?
In the 1920's Japan sent the Us Cherry Blossom trees as a 'gift'. But in real truth they only did it because they wanted to trick the US.
One must track FDR's decisions that, one by one, hem in Japan in a way for which the result is obvious to any thinking person: FDR GOADED Japan into war against the USA, with no choice. After all, if YOU are an island country, what will YOU do if your oil and iron are cut off? FDR had to know this.
In 1940 and 1941, under FDR's highly controversial baiting decisions (even at that time), the relationship steadily deteriorated, as everybody -- even FDR himself! -- would logically expect.
After the Pearl harbor attack, Japan and the USA's relationship worsened and the US entered WW2, with their allies Brittan.
Interesting fact: President Roosevelt called December 8th "A date which will live in infamy."
How did World War 2 affect American foreign policy?
Prior to World War II, American foreign policy was isolationist. We felt that other nations problems, particularly their wars, were their own business and we avoided getting involved unless we felt directly threatened. As a result of WWII though we decided that threats to peace and freedom elsewhere in the world did affect us, that if we ignored serious trouble in the world it would probably eventually find us. Thus after the war we became internationalist using our power and prestige to help and protect our friends and acting to prevent wars wherever possible or to minimize them when they did break out.
Another issue that drove foreign policy post WWII was the spread of communism from both the Soviets and Chinese. No longer could the US afford to be isolationist. The African continent saw decolonization and by the 1960s the fight was under way for countries between democratization and Marxism. Therefore the US supported autocracies and not "freedom fighters" generally aligned with Marxist regimes.
After the second world war, the US emerged as the a "super power" its economic infrastructure was untouched by the war and the US was the only nation with an atomic bomb. Based on these factors and the ones cited earlier in this answer, US foreign policy was shaped upon the US's ability to have a huge influence on world affairs.
Why did President Monroe feel the need for the doctrine?
To tell European countries to leave the Americas alone(APEX)
What are arguments for and against the US intervention in Iraq?
Sadly enough its going to go on for a long time. Saddam was not a good ruler but his rule did have a functioning country... If you opposed him life was not good! However, Bush felt compelled to divert our military assets from fighting Al-Queda in Afganistan and to divert them to a country where Al-Queda was not tolerated to carry out dads unfinished business. The power vacuum he created in Iraq has led to much unrest and a welcome location for Al-Queda operatives to come in and join the Jihad. The Arab world is interesting in that the many different sects often do not get along with each other however, throw in Israel or their ally the US and see how quick they join together to fight a common enemy. This is going to go on for a long time. The problem when you get leaders in control who have never been in a war who really want a war they often pick a fight with no winning and no end.
AnswerThe only reason why Sadaam Hussein is not worse than Hitler is because Sadaam Hussein had Iraq and Hitler had Germany. These are precisely the type of people that need to be put in prison. But while most agree that Sadaam Hussein shouldn't be in power, many people argue over the means to accomplish the just end. Never forget, at the end of the day, many innocents were killed, maimed and hurt just for the purpose.Lets not forget since the Invasion there's been an excess of 600,000deaths as of 2006, if the invasion did not happen they wouldn't have died.
many innocents were killed, maimed and hurt just for the purpose of "liberating" Iraq and its still ongoing, in fact compared to the amount the Americans killed Saddam is a saint in comparison
AnswerMany reasons why we should have done it.1) Their top nuclear scientist still had the blue prints in his garden per Saddams orders.
Designing a nuclear bomb is easy, a university grad named Google John Aristotle Phillips of Princston in the 70s built one as a junior paper, anyone with a degree in physics can do it. The trouble is creating weapons grade uraninum which is quite a complex process.
2) Genocide against the Kurds
So the 2000 kurds Saddam killed with chemical weapons is horrible compared to the 50,000 American casualties and 600,000 Iraqi civilians?
3) Genocide against the Shi'ites
Same as number 2
4) "Food for Oil" was nothing more than a scam with pockets from France, Germany, Russia, and China being lined.
False, it was trade, there was nothing illegal except the embargo by the states with made the common Iraqi families suffer.
5) Al-Queda training camps in the north with Zarqawi
Saddam hated Osama, and Osama hated Saddam. In fact if you actually looked into this issue you would find that Osama offered to fight with Saudi Arabia against Iraq in the First gulf war.
6) Saddam paid martyrs families from acts of jihad on Jews $25,000.
There's alot more but this should be enough. MANY military people say that you would find the WMDs in the deserts of Syria.
In case you haven't noticed, people can lie. It's not real just because somebody claims it is real, evidence is needed, maybe you can get that in an another invasion of Syria.
And if i recall America helped pay the Contra death squads, the taliban in the 80s-90s, the Irani dictatorship before it got overthrown and so on... please I'm getting tired of answering your ignorance, read some history before replying.
Reasons we should NOT have done it:
1) I have nuclear weapons blue prints. So do many people. It is a long, LONG way from blueprints to weapons grade fissionable isotopes, and from there to a functional bomb.
2) We encouraged genocide against the Kurds, by provoking them into rebellion with promises of military support, and then abandoning them as we did Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Winston Churchill was the first person to advocate the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds, and Turkey doesn't like them either. We also permitted Turkey to bomb Kurdish populations in northern Iraq during the last three years. Why would the US endorse killing Kurds?
3) The Shi'ites are the major population of Iraq. This "genocide" was very much unlike the genocide of serbian christians against bosnian Muslims. Saddam endorsed a secular government, and his actions were just fine with us until France and Germany won lucrative oil contracts, and Saddam bought most of his weaponry from Russia.
4) The biggest part of the "oil for food" scam was that Iraq refused to give US oil companies cheap contracts since they could get more for their oil from Europe.
5) There were no Al Queda training camps in Iraq prior to our invasion. The United States occupied a large portion of northern Iraq, ostensibly to protect Kurdish populations there. We enforced the no-fly zone (except for when we permitted Saddam to gas kurds) and had sealed off the region protecting Mosul and Kirkuk.
6) Saddam paid the families of palestinian suicide bombers, as did many members of the Saudi Royal family. This was not to encourage further bombings, but as compensation for the fact that Israel knocked down their homes with bulldozers. Only one member of Al Queda passed through Iraq seeking medical attention in the year preceding our invasion--and was denied. Al Queda had no operations in Iraq until after our mismanaged war. As for supporting international terrorists, Abu Nidal was in Iraq from time to time, though he never received financial support from Saddam, and was executed him in 2002. So much for Iraqi support of international terrorists. Some two hundred thousand (200,000) Iraqi civilians have died from the violence caused by our invasion and occupation, and a million more have been displaced.
AnswerThe war is justified because, historically, weak countries with lots of resources always fall prey to stronger countries that want them.Forget any moral justifications that is merely the pretence in politics to make out the aggressor is still the good guy.
There are and were no WMDs and the government knew this before the invasion. If WMDs were the justification then why hasn't North Korea (who we know for a fact has them) been invaded yet.
If use of chemical weapons 20 years ago to put down an uprising (killing 2000 people) was the issue that made Saddam bad how does this stand against Americas murder of 10s of thousands of people by chemical weapons in the Vietnam war 30 years ago. Or even its current use of chemical weapons in Iraq today (as admitted by the US government).
It certainly cannot be because of Saddams use of torture as currently the CIA has been found to be flying terror suspects to Eastern Europe and other destinations where they can be tortured by third parties.
The CIA admitted before the war that there was no link between Saddam and al Quaeda. Saddam and Bin Laden despised each other. The only part of Iraq with links to Al Quaeda was the northern kurdish part were Saddam didn't have control. The bit which America allied itself with.
I'm sure no one believes that we went to war because of how Iraq supposedly treated its women. That really was just mud to be slung to keep the American public onboard with the whole adventure. If truth be known of all Arab states Iraq was one of the most progressive when it came to womens rights. Women could vote and proportionately Iraq had more female representatives then America. Women made up a higher percentage of university students then anywhere in the Arab world and was inline with western gender distributions.
It wasn't even the fact the Saddam was a bad man (which he is) but so are most leaders if you dig enough dirt and sling enough mud. There are dozens of leaders around the world who are far worse, who have caused far greater attrocites and human rights violations. In Zimbabwe 100s of thousands of people have been hacked to death by machettes because they belonged to the wrong tribe, the women are taken to army camps where they are serially raped and mutilated (I bet they would wish to be Iraqi). The US government doesn't even speak out against these countries let alone invade.
The one true charge that could be put against Iraq and Saddam was that they had more oil then they could defend and that is, historically, indefenceable.
AnswerI disagree with the comment involving the US invading Iraq due to the fact that they have oil. If this were the case, the US would be taking over Iraq, not building and Iraqi democracy. The United States will not be getting free oil out of the deal by any means. I think they main motivation behind this was, #1 Sadaam Hussein was not cooperating with the UN, had no action been taken, it would discredit the UN's integrity, what motivation would other countries have to listen to them? #2 The everlasting quest to spread democracy, in the eyes of the US government, the more democracy found around the world and the less dictatorships...the better. And lastly #3 Sadaam Hussein has caused his share of trouble, including mass genocide of the Kurds and others as well as the invasion of Kuwait, etc. Hussein gave the US government plenty of reason to believe that he was hiding weapons of mass destruction when he chose to not cooperate with UN officials. And there still could very well be WMD's hidden in Iraq, this is something we may never know...First of all the UN is not a global dictatorship, its members willing commit to the organization, members can choose not to obey and USA has used its veto powers alot.
Second of all in the last hundred years the USA has created more dictatorships than democracies, take a brief history in South Americas, Africa, and the Carribean, and the term American interests. Promise does not reflect practice .
Third of all, as stated above, Saddam did bad things, but while he was in power there was order, water, electrcity, no street war between millitants and the US army, and at least 600,000 Iraqis were alive.
So if we never know if there's WNDs then its just a theory and therefore not a valid reason, oh i think Obama is actually hiding inside the Lincon memorial , lets cut him up and find out since we'll never know otherwise and we can't take that chance, if you can't find Osama then oh well the memorial will fix itself like the 600,000dead iraqis
Final thing, America has never had a major war on its land for 150 years, it's easy for those who never been to war, lost friends, family,or an arm to it to support it.
Concindentally BUSH, wolfgang, and channey had all never been to war. (bush was in a champagne regiment)
Which policy did the US adopt when World War 1 first broke out in Europe?
The prevailing thought was that the US adopted the policy of Isolationism. However, it's more likely they adopted instead the policy of non-intervention, where it chose not to take a side, but actively mediate for peace. That did not last as the war went on, and they entered the war on 1917, taking the side of the Allies.
What role did the Kristallnacht play in World War 2?
Kristallnacht was the brain child of the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Property of small Jewish merchants all over Germany was destroyed and window glass smashed in a show of nazi force. It was a wakeup call for many Jews who intensified their efforts to get out of Germany altogether. Unfortunatly, many other countries of the world, the US included had set limits on immigration of these persecuted people and they did not have a place to go. Soon it was too late. To the world the nazi press sanitized kristallnacht and lied about its true intent, but the die was cast and the Holocaust began that night. I guess the roll it played was to further degrade the Jews and embolden the Nazis to believe that they could do what they wanted to them with impunity. The German people wimped out and never spoke against it, so the Nazis then were bolder. When it was all over the vengence of God was unleashed on Germany for touching His ancient people and their cities bombed, their people burned and their beloved Nazi party driven from the face of the earth. === === == The Kristallnacht took place on 9-10 November 1938, in other words several months before the outbreak of World War 2. There is no link between the two.
How did William Seward's foreign policy affect American expansion?
Seward promoted the expansion of America through the purchase of Alaska. At first he was made fun of for the purchase, but then oil was discovered there.
What important foreign policy concern was addressed by the Monroe Doctrine?
European involvement in north and south America
Identify two problems with dollar diplomacy?
Why didn't the united states stop the holocaust?
The United States did not ignore the Holocaust. The world didn't really know that the Holocaust was occurring. That's the way it works with a regime. Information doesn't get in or out. The rest of the world simply knew that Nazi Germany was fighting other nations. When tales of the Holocaust did get out, it sounded so horrifying that people didn't believe it could be possible. America did not ignore the War either. We were in it far before GI's ever shipped out. We gave a great deal of financial support to the Allies, which is one of the reasons Pearl Harbor occurred. But without knowledge of the Holocaust, America thought it was just another European war. We thought it was just a turf war, and as such was none of our business. That's why America stayed out of it. But we didn't ignore it. Read about the Holocaust. It was a massive event. Not knowing about it today is ignoring it. You need to delve deeper than simply asking a question to people you don't even know over the internet.
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By mid 1942 the US and British governments were well informed about they Holocaust. In practice, there was very little that they could do in the short term.
From about November 1942 on the Holocaust was reported in the media and people even set up bodies to try to lessen the toll, but for some reason all this has been forgotten.
What were foreign policy issues faced by Washington?
During George Washington's presidency, the United States faced several foreign policy challenges, most notably relations with France and Britain. The French Revolution strained U.S.-French relations, leading to debates over whether to support France or maintain neutrality. Additionally, tensions with Britain persisted due to issues like impressment of American sailors and trade restrictions, prompting Washington to advocate for a neutral stance to avoid entanglement in European conflicts. His Farewell Address emphasized the importance of avoiding permanent alliances, a principle that shaped American foreign policy for years to come.
Why did the United States become involved in affairs in the Middle East following World War 2?
The United States first got involved in Middle Eastern affairs during a number of Post-World War II crises such as the Israeli-Arab Conflict, the Coup d'État of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran, and the petroleum trade with the newly independent Arab Nations.
Why was détente in danger of coming to an end?
There are several reasons, including, but not limited to: Carter having angered the Russians by praising their disloyal citizens, Carter having a new plan for arms limitation, and Carter discontinuing military aid to Argentina, Brazil and Ethiopia.
What was a historical significance of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy?
(NN/GP: less American military involvement in Latin America)
The purpose of this policy was to improve the relationship between the USA and Latin America. It was, first and foremost, Franklin Roosevelt's renouncement of military intervention by the United States into Latin American countries. It was implemented by his Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, unilaterally, bilaterally in particular countries, and regionally through the Organization of American States (OAS). There were several aspects, including withdrawal of US Marines from Haiti, US Congress nullifying the Platt Amendment in Cuba, restraint and negotiation when Mexico appropriated US citizen property, and lowering US tariffs to increase Latin American trade. In a world history context, the European powers had bankrupted themselves in World War I, making the Theodore "Roosevelt Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine irrelevant. The US no longer had to administer Latin American nations and assume European loans to keep European countries from colonizing in the Americas as they had in Egypt, for instance. Also, Franklin Roosevelt may have been looking forward to a possible conflict with Germany in WWII. The US may have wanted to secure the Americas from German intervention to preclude a variation of the German "Zimmermann Note" to Mexico, which guaranteed re-conquered territory taken from the US.
George Washington believed that European alliances knew it would ruin the new and untried nation. The political parties (factions) were enough, and he needed to make sure the nation didn't make any more mistakes.
Why did Iranian radicals take American hostages at the US Embassy in 1979?
Radical followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini overran the U.S. Embassy and took Americans hostage to protest the admission of the Shah of Iran into the United States for medical treatment, or because the US was spying on Iran from inside the embassy.
Why are US forces still in iraq today?
Because the United States wants to steal Iraq's oil is the most prevalent explanation. They used the September 11 attack as an excuse to invade Iraq. They firstly wanted to tell the world that Iraq supported Al Quaida. When that excuse fell though the mat, they wanted to tell the world they invaded cause Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction. They didnt have any of those.
My idea is this. America was attacked and the government needed to respond. The people that elect the president wanted a response and they wanted an immediate one. So The US government had to oblige and they took a world map and decided what countries to invade as to apease the American public's hunger for revenge. They singled out Iraq and since that day have been murdering Iraqis in their thousands on a daily basis.
Keep in mind we invaded Afghanistan first in 2001 and did not invade Iraq until 2003.
Everyone is a critic and has their own political views and beliefs. Look back to Sept 11, 2001 when the US was attacked by terrorists, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were a direct response to those attacks. In reality the decision made by President Bush and at that time a Democratic Congress, the choice was a double edged sword, if they choose to do nothing they would have been criticized and looked at as being soft to the world and would not retaliate against any form of attack on US soil and instead of sitting back and taking that blow we as American people banded together for the first time in years. Americans started flying American Flags, Supporting Troops and became more patriotic all overnight. We did go to the Middle East in search of WMD's, but we also went to find and disband extremist organizations and to take extremist leaders out of control. The left wing Liberals/Democrats and the media portrayed their fellow Americans as to be oil seeking, Blood Hungry, world dominating, baby killers. Why attack fellow Americans who serve in the Military when they are just following orders, doing their job, serving their country, protecting their fellow Americans and the integrity of the US Constitution from enemy attacks. In regards to the Oil, have we actually gained anything oil related from being in Iraq, do we own the Iraqi oil fields and how much oil do the US Soldiers pump out of Iraq daily. To answer that question it is quite simple no and none. The US in regards to Oil in Iraq is to protect the integrity of the Worlds supply of oil produced in the Middle East by taking it out of the hands of extremist groups who would destroy the oil supply to destroy the economic stability of the world, still no American or Coalition Forces are involved and the US does not control or profit from any or a single one Oil Field in Iraq. We are doing great things in Iraq, we have provided the majority or Iraqi citizens with electricity, running water, shelter, educational institutes's, a law enforcement force, firefighters and most important and government that has the interests of Iraq and its citizens in mind. While President Bush was in office the news media showed chaos and military actions all day on television (a bash against Bush), since Obama has been in office how much of the wars on terrorism have you seen on television, realistically on when something terrible happens and its only showed for 30 seconds and never aired again. Many Americans heard that the US was pulling out of Iraq but the media failed to mention that President Obama was pushing more troops in to Afghanistan. We will be in Iraq and Afghanistan for the next 10-20 years just as we are still in Germany (since WW2), Korea (since Korean War), Japan (since Atomic bombs in WW2) and many more. Just support those brave Americans who volunteered to serve the US and if you must hate anyone hate your President, Congressman, Senators and political leaders they are the ones keeping soldiers overseas. If you still have an issue with that you might want begin your political career or find yourself a new country to live in.
What relationship does the US have with Egypt?
Egypt is the second-largest individual recipient of American Aid (after Israel) and this money has gone to fund the Egyptian Army primarily as well as infrastructure maintenance. Given the corruption in the Mubarak, Morsi, and Sissi Regimes, not much of this money trickled down to Egyptian commoners, but it was there. The United States maintains a strategic alliance with Egypt also on account of the Suez Canal which sees most of the Persian Gulf oil-tankers pass through.
How many nuclear bombs were dropped on Iraq?
None. Nuclear weapons have not been, nor are likely to, authorized for use.
How was the American foreign policy between 1919 and 1945?
Were American foreign policy decisions in the 1920's justified?
