M1A2U2
03-09-2004, 05:02 PM
A New Kind of Imperialism
Many people in this world criticize the United States for its “police” like nature around the world. With our armed forces spread throughout the world many would even call us and Empire. When people hear the word empire, England’s Victorian era colonialism immediately comes to mind. Thoughts of persecution, violence, and revolution come to mind. However, I find this as being the problem with calling the US an empire. The US does not rule certain land with an iron fist killing anyone who protests its role, nor does it strip countries of their natural resources then leave them dry and helpless as England did throughout Africa after World War II. When England pulled out of southern Africa, the result was genocide, ethnic cleansing in Rwanda. England did nothing to stop this bloodshed; instead they turned a blind eye and let the UN succeed in doing nothing.
When England pulled out of Iraq in 1946 they divided it into 2 countries, with the smaller one being Kuwait. By not securing a stable Government in Iraq, their parliament was overthrown by a dictator who led the country into decades of war and pain. With their division of Iraq and Kuwait, Iraq ended up invading Kuwait in 1990. England did send troops this time but only because of a UN resolution and all too late to save the million and a half people Saddam Hussein had already killed. Instead the United States had to get involved and restore stability to the area.
It is clear though history how empires are evil but it is also clear how the United States seems to feel a strong desire to do the opposite of what England did. After WW2, the US spent billions of dollars restoring the nations it had occupied and to this day remains in these now stable countries. Currently many new events are happening that are creating a new kind of empire, an empire of humanitarian aid and freedom. In 1993 the US deployed to Somalia to stop the genocide there and provide massive amounts of humanitarian aid. In the second half of the nineties the US deployed to the Balkans again giving massive amounts of humanitarian aid. In 2001, the US quickly destroyed the terrorist harboring Taliban in Afghanistan, but instead of leaving the country in ruins, it went in, installed a democracy and is still providing aid to its “colony”.
Liberia was a former colony of the US, founded by freed slaves. A large civil war has recently erupted there and the US has taken it upon itself to insert itself into the country and return stability. In Iraq, thanks to unwise British planning, the US decided to remove its dictator from power. But in Iraq and Liberia we are seeing different kinds of occupations then we are used to seeing in imperial history. For instance, the occupiers are being greeted by the citizens with flowers, American flags, hugs, kisses, thumbs up, and pro American slogans. This has never been seen in the case of the British empire. An occupying army would spring a reaction of terror to the local civilians.
America’s global involvement can be called imperialism, but it is a new kind of imperialism, and imperialism where the occupier does not take resources from its colonies but instead gives resources to its colonies and sees to it that they are made into stable independent countries. As we move into the future, for the second time in history, one nation alone stands as the only imperial power on earth, but this nation keeps its empire free.
[/quote]
Many people in this world criticize the United States for its “police” like nature around the world. With our armed forces spread throughout the world many would even call us and Empire. When people hear the word empire, England’s Victorian era colonialism immediately comes to mind. Thoughts of persecution, violence, and revolution come to mind. However, I find this as being the problem with calling the US an empire. The US does not rule certain land with an iron fist killing anyone who protests its role, nor does it strip countries of their natural resources then leave them dry and helpless as England did throughout Africa after World War II. When England pulled out of southern Africa, the result was genocide, ethnic cleansing in Rwanda. England did nothing to stop this bloodshed; instead they turned a blind eye and let the UN succeed in doing nothing.
When England pulled out of Iraq in 1946 they divided it into 2 countries, with the smaller one being Kuwait. By not securing a stable Government in Iraq, their parliament was overthrown by a dictator who led the country into decades of war and pain. With their division of Iraq and Kuwait, Iraq ended up invading Kuwait in 1990. England did send troops this time but only because of a UN resolution and all too late to save the million and a half people Saddam Hussein had already killed. Instead the United States had to get involved and restore stability to the area.
It is clear though history how empires are evil but it is also clear how the United States seems to feel a strong desire to do the opposite of what England did. After WW2, the US spent billions of dollars restoring the nations it had occupied and to this day remains in these now stable countries. Currently many new events are happening that are creating a new kind of empire, an empire of humanitarian aid and freedom. In 1993 the US deployed to Somalia to stop the genocide there and provide massive amounts of humanitarian aid. In the second half of the nineties the US deployed to the Balkans again giving massive amounts of humanitarian aid. In 2001, the US quickly destroyed the terrorist harboring Taliban in Afghanistan, but instead of leaving the country in ruins, it went in, installed a democracy and is still providing aid to its “colony”.
Liberia was a former colony of the US, founded by freed slaves. A large civil war has recently erupted there and the US has taken it upon itself to insert itself into the country and return stability. In Iraq, thanks to unwise British planning, the US decided to remove its dictator from power. But in Iraq and Liberia we are seeing different kinds of occupations then we are used to seeing in imperial history. For instance, the occupiers are being greeted by the citizens with flowers, American flags, hugs, kisses, thumbs up, and pro American slogans. This has never been seen in the case of the British empire. An occupying army would spring a reaction of terror to the local civilians.
America’s global involvement can be called imperialism, but it is a new kind of imperialism, and imperialism where the occupier does not take resources from its colonies but instead gives resources to its colonies and sees to it that they are made into stable independent countries. As we move into the future, for the second time in history, one nation alone stands as the only imperial power on earth, but this nation keeps its empire free.
[/quote]