Originally posted by AlexIR
reply to post by manykapao
I'm not anti american, i'm just anti american politics, just look how many wars has the US been in since its conception.
Let's see how many wars.
The Revolution - speaks for itself for all revolutions begin with revolt.
The War of 1812 - Declared by the United States due to trade restrictions imposed by Great Britain, the forcing of US sailors into serving in the
British Navy, Britain's involvement with Indian tribes preventing expansion into territories not owned by Britain and the list goes on.
The Civil War - speaks for itself, it was within the US and not declared on anyone. (And depending upon current politics, it might just be
recreated)
The Spanish American War - well this one has many causes but one, admittedly was the idea of "manifest destiny" in that the United States concern
over Cuba and reaching towards colonialism such as the Philippines for one.
World Wars I and II - A good many governments of the world were involved with this one and the US should not be singled out. In fact, the US had an
isolationist policy and only became involved when it found itself under threat. And it should be noted that in WWI there were several factors that
brought the involvement of the US which began with the sinking of the Lusitania, heightened U-Boat attacks on shipping which was escalated with
Germany's violation of the Sussex Pledge. As to WWII the final straw was the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Korean War - Korea was divided after WWII with the 38th parallel as the dividing line with Soviet Russia in the north and the US in the south.
Essentially, it was this division and responsibility to South Korea that the US became involved and it is the first conflict of the cold war..
Vietnam - this was another cold war involvement. I believe it should have never went down in the manner it did but it is necessary to view the mindset
at the time and not judge from today's perspective. Communism was viewed as a threat and the US was attempting to prevent the takeover of South
Vietnam by the Northern communists. Vietnam was only one of many conflicts in Indochina.
I suppose that leaves the middeast which began with Desert Shield and ended with Desert Storm. The invasion of Kuwait needed to be dealt with and it
was done with the UN support.
The war in Iraq was begun with UN support as well.
Now, how can it be viewed that these major wars are all instigated by the US? Both WWI and II the US did not enter the conflict until it was already
underway. In Korea and Vietnam, the conflicts were already in place and the mindset of the world was to curb the expansion of Communism. As to the
Middle East, they have been fighting wars since before the creation of the United States.
I felt the need to respond in this manner over a simple statement as "just look how many wars has the US been in since its conception." without at
least offering a rebuttal to such a general statement.
Mikado