Two things are certain in this world. First, if there is a disaster, either caused by man or nature, the areas effected will turn to the United States for help and second, once that help is delivered they will call for the US to leave and protest, if it doesn't happen fast enough. Should America continue to operate as the policeman of the world? I say they should not, I'm not saying the US should withdraw and let the world crumble around them, just that they should be very careful about why, where and when they involve themselves. Why is it, that everybody loves the United States when they need something but once they get it, most countries, even our "allies" would rather not deal with us at all? The other countries of the world tend to treat America like a very dangerous tool. One to be used and discarded as soon as possible, and please keep all hands and feet away from the US or you might lose something. United States history is filled with examples of America sending troops to a country for good reasons and then having the country kick them out without even a thank you for their help as soon as the situation changes.
Somalia is a prime example of this. Somalia was mired in both a drought and tribal violence that was causing large portions of the population to starve. in 1992, President George H. W. Bush and other world leaders sent troops to the troubled African nation to secure food shipment and storage areas and insure food was getting to the interior of the country where the worst of the starvation was happening. This operation, called Operation Restore Hope, was a great success and the famine was lessened. As soon as this became apparent to some local leaders they began to call for the international forces to leave, before the mission was even complete. There were other local leaders calling for the overall situation in the country to be improved before the troops left. The United States sided with the leaders calling for the tribal groups to be disarmed and brought to the conference table to achieve a lasting peace. This shift in mission caused the majority of the armed groups to turn against the coalition forces and resulted in battles throughout the capital Mogadishu and the deaths of hundreds of Somalis and 18 Americans. One could say that without the mission creep of the American operation then this never would have happened but the Clinton administration just chose the wrong side even though their intentions were good. After this incident American troops were withdrawn and the country descended even further into chaos and still is a problem area of the world.
Violence doesn't need to play a part in the situations I'm talking about. Germany and Japan are also good examples of this. At the end of World War II the United States and the rest of the Allies, had carved up Germany into different areas of responsibility. The plan called for the Allies to set up a transition government and remove Nazis from leadership roles. After these goals were accomplished the Allies would withdraw and leave the Germans to govern themselves. Unfortunately this didn't go as planned. Shortly after declaring victory the Russian announced they would not be withdrawing and rigged elections in their areas to install a communist government. This caused Germany to be partitioned into western run West Germany and communist East Germany, propped up by the USSR. western, and later NATO troops were in West Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. For the large part of the 45 years NATO troops were stationed in Germany they were the only thing standing between the free people of West Germany and a forced reunification under Soviet rule. When the Wall came down and the country was reunited, movements started to remove the troops, no thank yous for the years of keeping them free, no honoring the veterans that secured that freedom, just a pure and simple "get out, now". The same thing happened in Japan. The United States formed the new government of Japan and eventually allowed them to return to a stated of self-determination but troops remained after the communist takeover of China securing Japanese sovereignty but as soon as it became clear that China was not going to invade Japan, there were massive calls and demonstrations to have the US troops leave, even though there was an agreement between the Japanese government and the US about troops remaining in country to keep a far eastern presence for the United States. To this very day there are tense relations with the Japanese government over the status of bases on their soil and the population of Japan is even more fervently opposed to the United States presence. Only the aide offered after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, seemed to sway public opinion in Japan.
How many other times have the United States offered aide after disasters around the world and how many times have those same countries failed to support the United States in other ventures or even openly oppose them? During the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami the United States diverted a whole carrier battle group, as well as many other military assets, to provide relief operations. For a time it appeared the aide would not be accepted but after some negotiations it was allowed . The government of Indonesia was trying to turn public opinion against the United States in spite of the relief efforts but it did not work as 38% of the public approved of the United States.
These are just a few examples of the theory I'm proposing and I think they go a long way to making my point. Since the fall of the Soviet Union it seems that quite a few countries are afraid the the United States and view all offers of help as the first moves in an effort to make those area colonies of America, nothing could be farther from the truth. While it might have been true in the height of the Cold War, that the US made all foreign policy decisions based on their effect on the USSR, that is no longer the case. The United States is just trying to help everybody join the 21st century and enjoy a working democracy. The fact that some countries don't want that seems to be something the US has trouble understanding. The United States will never be view as a friend to all countries and there are some that will be our enemies, as long as the United States understands this, our relations with the world will only be better.
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