Quote:
Originally Posted by W.E.B. Du Bois
I don't need to. You've already provided them in your opening post.
The quotes you list seem to be referring exclusively to the wars of old, the old conquest and colonialization wars of the past.
|
Well the national interest issue is still being used - "American interests." So the Founders would condemn current U.S. foreign policy based on such alleged interests.
Quote:
|
US foreign policy has been atrocious most of the time. However, there are times when it has done some good, like when we stopped the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and stopped (albeit belatedly) the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
|
But the issue is, have some of our earlier actions contributed to these alleged "clean up" projects the U.S. government uses to justify its military actions?
The answer is, yes.
Quote:
|
The US record in Iraq is mixed. There is good and bad in it. We got rid of Saddam, and stopped the games he was playing with the UN and WMD. However, the war was mismanaged from even before it was launched.
|
There has been more death now than would have occurred under Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. Millions of Iraqis are now refugees - some of the women are selling themselves as prostitutes. Thousands of professionals, especially doctors, have left the country. And billions of dollars have been spent in this failing effort. In truth, it's an absolute disaster.
Perhaps the Iraqi people could have deposed Saddam on their own, if the U.S. government and the West hadn't strengthened him.
Quote:
|
It's wiser to not throw out the good with the bad. Your approach here is, unfortunately, to do just that.
|
It's wise to realize there are unintended consequences when you start using military force to intervene in other countries, and when you start sending money to tyrants and thugs.