Policemen of the World: U.S. Military Force Essay

Thesis

In the last seven decades, the United States government decided to fill the gaps that exist in the global political systems. Such gaps are created by the collapse of governments, power centers, failures in international relationships, and, most notably, military conflicts.

Thesis statement: Even though the U.S. military force positions itself as the “policemen of the world”, there is major controversy existing around the U.S. military forces participating in military conflicts abroad, namely Syria and Cameroon.

Outline

Conflicts in Syria and Cameroon are the two real-life incidents that both relate to U.S. military action abroad. It is difficult to differentiate between which one of these conflicts relates to controversy within the U.S. public and which one is connected to controversy within the countries affected by the U.S. involvement since both of them affect the global community on several levels.

The military actions in Syria started on the 22nd of September 2014 and still takes place to this day. When initially the U.S. supplied the Syrian rebels with non-lethal aid, in 2014 the military began its mission to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a force that desired to establish its authority over all Muslims around the globe. Because the conflict caused more than 4 million Syrians to fled the country, the American government continues to support the refugees with humanitarian aid (Blanchard, Humud, & Nikitin, 2015, p. 1).

The U.S. military intervention in Cameroon started in October 2015 to provide support to the African forces to battle against the Islamic terroristic forces in the Western African region. Despite the many claims that the deployment of the U.S. forces was not measured with the volume of the threat, the democratic forces of Cameroon regard the help from the government beneficial (Diallo, 2015, para. 3).

When it comes to the aspects of U.S. history that led the country’s forces to become the world’s police, it is important to mention the following three points:

• Second World War (1939-1945) that greatly influenced the country’s momentum to establish the most powerful military force in the world.
• The Cold War (1947-1991), which became the focal point for the U.S. becoming the protector of the world’s freedom and democracy.
• Global War on Terrorism, a campaign targeted at battling with the global terrorist forces after the events of 9/11.

To further explore the policing role U.S. military took in the course of its campaign, the following three military incidents are to be mentioned:

• The Korean War (1950-1953) in which the U.S. government in cooperation with the UN sent its troops back the North Korean army to its territory and prevent the invasion of South Korea (Saylor Academy, 2011, p. 1).
• The Lebanon Intervention targeted at sustaining peace in the region until the president of Lebanon completed his term. At that time (1958) the region was under threat of the civil war between Muslims and Christians.
• The Dominican Civil War (1965), in which the U.S. sent its forces to sustain peace in the region until the democratic elections were held.

The three driving forces that became the driving forces for encouraging U.S. military participation in global incidents are the following:

• The strategy of protecting the country from global threats, especially terrorism.
• Offering help to the United Nations on its mission to sustain global peace and mitigate conflict.
• Being concerned about the spreading of the communistic forces.

References

Blanchard, C., Humud, C., & Nikitin, M. (2015). Armed conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. response. Web.

Diallo, M. (2015). US troops’ Cameroon deployment is welcomed. Web.

Saylor Academy. (2011). Korean War. Web.