“Presidential doctrines since the early 19th century have been all about identifying the main security threats facing the US at that particular historical time. As such, they can be classified into three main clusters – pre-Cold War, Cold War, and post-Cold War. While the doctrines enunciated during each period maybe somewhat related to each other, this certainly does not apply across time. In other words, there is no “grand strategy” underlying the past century or so of American security policy.”
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Get Help Now!Write an essay that agrees, disagrees or is ambivalent about the preceding statement, by framing it in terms of two of the theoretical traditions(LIBERALISM,REALISM) covered in class, and empirical evidence tied to at least three Presidential doctrines, one from each period mentioned.(TRUMAN DOCTRINE,MONROE DOCTRINE,EISENHOWER DOCTRINE, BUSH DOCTRINE,KENNEDY DOCTRINE, FDR NEW DEAL) In addition, your essay should engage with the following questions (in no particular order): What were the debates about the security threats faced by the US in each period? What were the kinds of interventions (covert or overt) justified by the doctrines you discuss? How – if at all – were they related to each other? In addressing these questions, the goal of your essay is to present a clear understanding of how you view the nature and trajectory of US national security policy, and the existence of a “grand strategy”.
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1. What is the “Bush Doctrine”? In what ways did it mark a change in the history of US
national security policy?
The Bush Doctrine is the name given to the foreign policy that Bush
and his administration followed during his presidency, specifically, directed
towards the Middle East.The doctrine held that the enemies of the U.S use
radicalism and terrorrism as a way of living, therefore, the U.S felt threatened
by rising terrorism and sought out to protect their national security.However,
the doctrine wasn’t used solely for this purpose but was more of a way for the
U.S to pratice their expanisionst policies and justify their agression towards
the Middle East.This is because the Bush Doctrine held a belief that the United
States had the right to wage war against any nation that could threaten the
national security of the United States through terrorist acts and posseing
weapons of mass destruction, in which the U.S holds the responsibility to
protect themselves by promoting democratic ideals.
It marked a change in the history of US national security because for
the first time the U.S had stated that they would directly be involved in direct
warfare and hadn’t been deeply involved with foreign politics.They displayed
this by publishing a document called “the National Security Strategy of the
United States” which served as a display of how their new national security
policy would look like. It also marked a change in U.S national security
because for the first time, the homeland was also under the threat of terror
attacks and the U.S made advances within the Middle East to secure a strategic
position.U.S national security policy greatly shifted during the Bush
Administration where it had transformed from a peaceful and uniting force
into an expansionist and power hungry one.
The Bush Doctrine and the war against Iraq are deeply intertwined with each other.
They are two extremely important topics and are greatly connected to each other
because the Bush Doctrine marked the start of a period that led to great turmoil in the
Middle East. Just like the doctrine marked a change in U.S national security policy, the
Iraq War also did too.These two questions are critical in order to understand the
mainframe of U.S foreign policy in the Middle East and as to why the Middle East is in
the condition it is today
2. According to David North, what is the main reason that the US launched its war against
Iraq?
Although the U.S had suggestted that the war against Iraq was in means of
containing the increase in terrorism, destroying Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction”
and “spreading democracy” to the Middle East, David North believed differently. He
believes that the main reason for the war against Iraq was clearly for the benefit of the
“financial and corporate oligarchy” in the United States. He believes that the biggest
reasons behind the war had an economic reason where the U.S would maintain control
over Iraq’s oil resources and be able to use an oppressed country as a form of a
colony, where they would be a key player in Middle Eastern politics and control vast
resources
3. What, according to Andrew Bacevich, were the lessons of Iraq that were being forgotten,
and why do they matter
The lessons of Iraq is that we should try to avoid meaningless conflict at all costs
because wars like the Iraq War cost many lives and caused a disruption in the development of
nations.The lesson is that the U.S waged war against Iraq with many goals in hand, but failed
to accomplish many of them as there were no weapons of mass destruction, the democracy in
the Middle East wasn’t restored and the conflict kept going on for years and years.As the U.S
waged war on Iraq in means of gaining control of oil fields and “spreading democracy” they
engaged in an unnecessary conflict that could have been dealt through other measures like
NATO or the UN. It seems as if the lesson was forgotten because with Obama coming into
the office the Iraqi conflict is entering a new phase and as Americans we fail to reflect on the
mistakes made during the previous administration.The mistake is that Bush steeled himself
and the army in Iraq in order to gain control of more resources, but did this while lowering
the expectations for the accomplishments of the army in Iraq.During the second phase of the
war the U.S tried to fix their mistakes by switching their war tactics from an occupation force
to an extractive force. However, nothing has even been resolved but things have gone to
worse where the first period caused a worldwide disturbance of forces and the second period
of the war made the situation worse than what it was by keeping U.S forces in Iraq and
Afgahni soil without a sole purpose, just to stay as an occupationist force.The lessons the U.S
government should have learned from the first round of the Iraq war are important because it
was a critical point for the national security policy of the U.S. While the U.S continued to
occupy Iraq for many years, putting american lives at risk and causing an upheaval in the
area, they needed to learn from the first time they failed to extinguish terrorist forces and just
withdraw from the land.However, they continued to didn’t understand the lesson they should
have learned from the first round of the war and continued to operate in the same way during
both administrations. This was because in their own eyes, they remained unbeaten and
unbeatable but still failed to realize the reality of the war and still didn’t know what to do as
troops were pulling out from the area.
The lessons described by Bacevich is critical in order to understand the outcome
of the national support for the Iraq war, which was fueled by the Bush Administration
and journalists like Bill Keller. As stated in the third question the war on Iraq was an
unnecessary means of conflict and could have been avoided, but as people like Bill
Keller and other government officials continue to support the cause it’s difficult to learn
our lessons and adapt. The questions are critical because it important to understand
how there were key players in influencing the American people about the Iraq War and
as Bacevich states our lessons are being forgotten, therefore, the U.S keeps making the
same mistake and such actions are generally supported by the mass media in order to
influence the people.
4. Why is Bill Van Auken critical of Bill Keller’s argument about supporting the Iraq war?
Bill van Auken is critical of Bill Keller’s argument because he believes that he
alongside many important journalists and government officials played a key part in
convincing the American people that the war with Iraq was necessary. He blames the Bill
Keller for sending a wrong message to the American people and supporting a cause that led
to years of bloodshed and turmoil.He critiques his word choice in instances such as, how the
war was a “a monumental blunder” and how “Whether it was wrong to support the invasion
at the time is a harder call ” and also believes he was manipulative in his New York times
article. By justifying his support for the war and informing his readers about false risks
reigning from Iraq, how “Hussein was hiding the kind of weapons that could rain holocaust
on a neighbor or be delivered to America by proxy” and how it was America’s task to
maintain global democracy, Keller made a strong impression on his readers.Bill Van Auken
believes that The Times and Keller played an important role for setting up the ideological and
political basis for the Iraqi War. He pushes forward the idea that the senior editors of the
Times were in close contact with the Bush Administration and Keller’s expression of ideas
was done in order to promote the war.Van Auken concludes his article by stating how he
believes that Keller was an “accomplice and facilitator of war crimes” conducted in Iraq,
where he believes that made a bad influence on the American people and used his following
to support a war he didn’t even fully understand the extent of.
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