American Foreign Policy

Paper Summary:

The paper contends that America's recent endeavors to produce peace in many turbulent areas of the globe have only resulted in more chaos, the war in Iraq as a prime example. The paper further argues that America does not live up to its high standards of personal liberty with its shocking actions towards prisoners of war at a military base in Guantanamo Bay and also questions the true motives and desires behind the initial invasion of Iraq. The paper critically examines America's stance on free trade that both justifies and promotes capitalism within the context of the international agenda and claims that Americans do not spend as much as other first world countries on foreign aid for third world countries. The paper concludes with the assertion that the current foreign policy now resembles more of a mythic story which is told to the American public in order to justify the true actions which are being taken on the behalf of the American people.

From the Paper:

"Under the Bush administration, there are several key factors to the overall National Security policies and how those policies are implemented on a global stage. Modern conflicts prove to be much more complicated than wars and fights of the past generations. The United States is not at war with a single nation or country, but rather "The enemy is terrorism-- premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents," (National Security Council, 2008). When faced with an enemy which can spread through different nations and governments, a country must therefore adjust older ways of dealing with a more well known and recognizable enemy. According to the identity of our so-called "enemies," United States foreign policy has taken a very strong stance against dealing with any individual who has known to create terror against free and democratic nations."

Sample of Sources Used:

• National Security Council. (2008). The national security strategy of the United States of America. www.whitehouse.gov. 17 May. 2008. http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf
• Radelet, Steve. (2005). Think again: U.S. foreign aid. www.foriegnpolicy.com. 18 May, 2008. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2773
• Shah, Anup. (2006). Criticisms of current forms of free trade. Free Trade and Globalization. 18 May. 2008. http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/FreeTrade/Criticisms.asp#ErodingWorkersRights
• Stradiotto, Gary A. (2004). Democratizing Irag: regime transition and economic development in comparative perspective. International Journal on World Peace. 21 (2). Pp.3-24.
• Sullivan, Stacy. (2008). Osama bin Laden's media director puts on a show at Guantanamo. The Huffington Post. Human Rights Watch. 18 May. 2008. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/05/12/usint18814.htm

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