Policemen of the World Thesis and Outline

Introduction

Over the last seventy years, the U.S. Military has developed into one of the main tools used by our International Partners to manage complex crisis that pose a serious threat to international peace and security past the United States borders. The number of military personnel that are being deployed to investigate, assist when peacekeeping is greatly needed has grown in size and within the last decade has become progressively complex. Today our military collect and analyze numerous data that is being received through our U.S. Intelligence Office to better protect our concerned interest of our foreign allies. This constant monitoring helps with military operations in restoring the rule of law within foreign nations and attempting to promote human rights for women and children around the world. During the twentieth century the United States has become the “policemen” of the world through international incidents such as U.S. forces strike in Libya, Somalia, capture al Qaeda operative (2013) and NATO coordinates air strikes and missile attacks against Qaddafi government during uprising by rebel Army (2011).

Outline

I. Two International Events from the past five years that can be traced back to a foreign policy created after the Civil War
A. U.S. forces strike in Libya, Somalia, capture al Qaeda operative
B. NATO coordinates air strikes and missile attacks against Qaddafi government during uprising by rebel army II. Two Aspects of U.S. history since 1865 that have led to the U.S.’s rise as a world super power police force A. Industrialization

B. Cuban Missile Crisis
III. Two international incidents since World War II where American has taken on a policing role
A. American Military Police in Europe
B. World War II
IV. Three driving forces that fueled international policy decisions involving the international incidents
A. American Soldiers Overseas, the Global Military Presence
B. Cultural Norms and National Security
C. Treaties, Exit Strategies, Elections

Being involved with the military from the day I was born until present, has brought on many challenges, questions, concerns about our safety worldwide. We have seen U.S. President’s make good and bad choices in regards to “helping” our international allies fight corruption within their countries and struggling to maintain power within their government by requesting assistance from our US Military Policemen. But the U.S. has become a vital military operational force, which has maintained some residual peace throughout each international zone. Loyalty has been a key part between the U.S. and our allies and what we can do as a country to stand side by side and fight for justice and equality. One very well-known member of al Qaeda, who was put on the FBI’s most wanted list, was finally captured after being on the run for many years (2013). Our elite U.S. Army Delta Force put in a plan with assistance from the CIA and FBI to track and capture Abu Arias Libi in his home village.

Many believe that his capture was the epitomes of letting al Qaeda know that you can run but you cannot hide forever. He was not only well known but well respected and one of many senior terrorist with al Qaeda who was believed to be a deadly operative who put fear in many, such as the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania, in which more than 100 people lost their lives (1998). It took years to locate him but less than thirty seconds to capture him in Tripoli. Many believe within the military that we should have never been involved in any conflicts with any other country but our own; however the U.S military will continue to thrive and assist whenever possible. The capture of Abu Arias is a great relief to the U.S. because it is alleged that he may have useful information about the strength of al Qaeda and the Islamists in Libya (Robertson 2013). At this time Abu Arias Libi is in U.S. military custody in a secure location to get as much information if any on any other future terroristic attacks and the US and our international allies are working side by side with the Libyan government, which is still attempting to stress to the U.S Government that all citizens should be tried in Libya when facing detrimental charges.

But the U.S. has made it very clear that “ We will continue to maintain relentless pressure on terrorist groups that threaten our people, victims of terrorism, our military involvement or international interest, in which we will conduct direct action against them, if necessary, that is consistent with our laws and values,” (Hagel 2013). Forty two years of power, dictatorship, civil war where many lost their lives was Qaddafi’s persona. His accolade was being ruthless while maintaining a sense of flamboyance attitude that he was invincible and no one could touch him. His eccentric leadership raised Qaddafi through the ranks of the Libyan army in which he was made military chief and led Libyan forces to one of the deadliest Arab wars against Israel. Protest broke out in Libya which is the second largest city, Benghazi, to protest freedom, civil rights and the ousting of Qaddaffi.

To corner Qaddafi, the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions against Libya that included arms embargo and many assets were frozen, in which the U.N. Council referred Libya to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes against humanity (www.cnn.com). But amazingly Qaddafi did not want to take full blame on anything that he did but rather blame the unrest in Libya on al Qaeda and that the people of Libya were being manipulated and going against him, in which he has had to retaliate all these years for the good of the people. (2010). “Qaddafi’s bloodless coup in 1969 and how he proceeded to translate his highly personalized vision into political, economic, and social policy, with his tight knit networks, the crises he overcame that included sanctions after the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, as well as his astounding maneuverings in the early 2000 to restore tattered relations with the West finally came to an end with the revolt in 2011 in which a new generation of power brokers post Qaddafi are rising from the ashes”. (Pargeter)

NATO watched, listened and made decisions on how the military would be involved in this war on the cease and capture of Qaddafi. (2011) The Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoodi knew that the military presence in Libya would be enough and to the Libyan’s advantage against Qaddafi, caution the cost would be too high, calling again for dialogue to resolve the crisis peaceful rather than military. (2011). The U.S. is concerned that Qaddafi may be making preparations for his last hooray in Tripoli after the month long NATO air strike continues amid reports of rebel advances. www.msnnews.com. “President Barack Obama addresses the American public on the situation in Libya. “Tonight, I can report that we have stopped Gadhafi’s deadly advance” and that the United States will “support the aspirations of the Libyan people” as the “military effort ratchets down.” (2011).

The NATO secretary general announces the official end of the NATO mission in Libya. (2011) in which Qaddafi was killed after being captured by rebel forces in his hometown of Sirte, Libya. (www.worldsnews.com) Both of these international events were in conjunction with the Foreign Policy that can be traced back to the Civil War in the Ideological Systemic Approach, with “simplistic viewpoint that had given way in recent years to more complex approaches to the question of military intervention. Since the military have unavoidably been rendered a larger role even while civilian authority has been noticeably strengthened” (Stein 1963). The United States spends billions on defense. Industrialization gave way to mass production of weapons in which war planners were receiving the tools necessary for waging a war on our allies while helping political unrest abroad.

“Foreign policy has become increasingly reliant on military solutions since World War II, but we are a long way from the Marines’ repeated occupations of Haiti, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic in the early 20th century, when foreign and or commercial interests influenced military action”. (O’Connell) “The Cuban missile crisis is one of the biggest events in American and Russian Cold war history. It is also called the October Crisis as the entire series of events took place in the last week of October. Also known as Caribbean Crisis in Russia”. (Brokaw) There were three countries involved in the crisis, America, Russia and Cuba. In October 1962, in the middle of the cold war between America and Russia, there was a likelihood of a nuclear attack on America. The US tried to take over the Cuban government that remained loyal to Fidel Castro. However, America was not successful in its intentions. They conducted an operation called Bay of Pigs in which the US Military Policeman was severely hampered by the lack of island knowledge and also shortage of maps. The US had well thought-out attacking Cuba by air and sea in order to achieve a military quarantine of the country. At that time Fidel Castro allied with Russia and sought their help guessing a second attack by United States.

So he permitted the Russians to install missile stations on Cuban soil. Russia built a nuclear weapon launch station 90 miles off coast from the United States. President Kennedy was briefed on Russians nuclear weapons through photographs taken by them. After multiple meetings, and agreement was done and Russia was willing to dismantle its weapons of destruction if America will not attempt to take over Cuba. The United States assured the Russian and Cuban leaders that the US will keep their distant for now. Military Police units worked to keep the peace in Europe after World War II to the end of the Cold War. Our global presence has been a lasting effect for many years, because of our global connections. When a potential war, terroristic threats or ground mobility might be needed, the military policemen will be called upon to aide and assist.

World War II was a global war that lasted for many years, with millions of lives lost, while fighting for equality and freedom. World War II has taught us a lot about how the military became involved and their preparedness to fight globally in a time of political unrest. Each time the US takes a step back, we are called back into action to assist our international allies. But without WWI/II there would really be no military bases within Europe or other countries, this makes for a perfect fit in regards to foreign policies that where created by our presidents. In a world with no policeman, these criminals and belligerents hurt blameless people and thrive from doing so, thus boosting them to increase their immoral conduct and inspiring others to replicate them. Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Qaddafi and Osama Bin Laden were ruthless, when each forged a plan to take over their countries and possibly the world. Without the aid of our US Policemen, these terrorist would have succeeded. The US has had a large impact both positive and negative on affairs of economic, cultural and national security.

The “balance of power” and overseas U.S. presence will still need to continue, because when one global crisis has been eliminated another opposition assumes they are maintaining their power and gearing up for a potential standoff with another country. (Clinton) We assumed after World I/II and the Vietnam War, that our presence would be enough to sanction some type of peace and making each nation grateful for U.S. involvement, but after so many years we still find ourselves in the middle while each host country is still looking for a hand out of U.S. involvement. Strategic interest of the United States and host countries renders the US to assist in globally equality. Sometimes host countries will reject US presence despite hefty financial support in keeping the host economy stable. The US will remain vigil and on alert for the next crisis that will ensue and give our US Policemen another chance to show how to resolve a crisis in the wake of war.

References

www.cnn.com
www.military.com/daily-news
www.stripes.com
abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-reviews-military-ties
Dr. Zoltan Grossman; From Wounded Knee to Libya: A Century of U.S. Military Interventions; Faculty member in Geography and Native American Studies Andrew Alexandra, Deane-Peter Baker, Marina Caparini; Private Military and Security Companies: Ethics, Policies and Civil-Military Relations (Cass Military Studies); Hardcover P.W. Singer. Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Updated Edition (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs); Paperback Samuel P. Huntington. The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations (Belknap Press S); Paperback Eliot A. Cohen (2005). Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime Paperback America’s Destiny Is to Police the World; M Boot – Financial Times, 2003 – John T. Fishel (1997). Civil Military Operations in the New World William Blum (2004). Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II Walter Russell Mead (2004, 2005). Power, Terror, Peace, and War: America’s Grand Strategy in a World at Risk; First Vintage Book Edition Brown, J. Willard. The Signal Corps in the War of the Rebellion. 1896. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Butternut and Blue, 1996. (FHL book 973 M2bt.) Contains a roster of soldiers in the signal corps; includes present address of each soldier and a brief service history
Pargeter Alison (2010) Libya The Rise and Fall of Qadaffi

Ethan Chorin. (2009) Exit the Colonel, The Hidden History of the Libyan Revolution (paperback) Brookings Institution, Washington D.C. (1960) United States Foreign Policy: The Formulation and Administration of United States Foreign Policy. Washington: Government Printing Office. U.S. Library of Congress, Legislative Reference Service 1957 United States Defense Policies since World War II. 85th Congress, 1st Session, House Document 100. Washington: Government Printing Office