Where is American imperialism?
Show me some evidence to support your claims
In an opinion piece in the Manchester Guardian, Indian journalist Arundhati Roy wrote, "Here is a list of the countries that America has been at war with - and bombed - since the second world war:" It reads
* China (1945-46, 1950-53)
* Korea (1950-53)
* Guatemala (1954, 1967-69)
* Indonesia (1958)
* Cuba (1959-60)
* Vietnam (1961-73)
* The Belgian Congo (1964)
* Laos (1964-73)
* Peru (1965)
* Cambodia (1969-70)
* Nicaragua (the 1980s)
* El Salvador (the 1980s)
* Grenada (1983)
* Libya (1986)
* Panama (1989)
* Iraq (1991-99, 2003-08)
* Bosnia/Republic of Srpska (1995)
* Sudan (1998)
* Yugoslavia (1999)
* Afghanistan (2001-08)
From this, by simply counting, the years 1947-49, 1955-57, 1974-79, 1990 and 2000 were the only peaceful ones. 73% of the years, from World War II's end until 1989, the U.S. was militarily intervening somewhere. After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 (not counting conflicts like Colombia where governing elites request help against rebellious subpopulations) the U.S. was actively militarily intervening in a foreign country at least 89% of the years into 2008, an increase of 22%.
In 2006, Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General under Lyndon B. Johnson, wrote:
Both branches of our One Party system, Democrat (D) and Republican (R), favor the use of force to have their way. Consider,
1. Regime Change in Iran (1953), the Shah replacing democratically elected Mossadegh; Eisenhower (R);
2. Regime Change in Guatemala (1954), a military government [replacing] democratically elected Arbenz;
Eisenhower (R);
3. Regime Change in Congo (1961) assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Eisenhower (R)
4. The Vietnam War (1959-1975), Eisenhower (R), Kennedy (D), Johnson (D), Nixon (R);
5. Invasion of the Dominican Republic (1965), Johnson (D);
6. Contra Warfare against Nicaragua (1981-1988), resulting in regime change from the Sandinistas to
corrupt capitalists; Reagan (R);
7. Attack and occupation of Grenada (population 110,000)(1983-1987) Reagan (R);
8. Aerial attack on the sleeping cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, (1986) Reagan (R);
9. Invasion of Panama Regime Change (1989-1990), George H. W. Bush (R);
10. Gulf War (1991), George H. W. Bush (R);
11. "Humanitarian" occupation of Somalia leading to 10,000 Somali deaths (1992-1993) George H. W. Bush
(R) and Bill Clinton (D);
12. Aerial attacks on Iraq (1993-2001) Bill Clinton (D);
13. War against Yugoslavia (1999) 23,000 bombs and missiles dropped on Yugoslavia, Bill Clinton (D)
14. Missile Attack (21 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles) destroying the Al Shifa Pharmaceutical Plant in Khartoum
which provided the majority of all medicines for Sudan (1998) Bill Clinton (D);
15. Invasion and Occupation of Afghanistan, Regime Change (2001-present) George W. Bush (R);
16. War of Aggression against Iraq and Hostile Occupation (2003)-present) George W. Bush (R);
17. Regime Change in Haiti (2004) Democratically elected Aristide for three years of chaos and systematic
killing, George W. Bush (R)
I'm not so sure about George W. Bush being the worst president ever. I'm young and I haven't personally seen how many of the other past presidents have performed. But you definitely have to consider him among the worst presidents the U.S. has had. For a man who is the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, he has exposed himself as a generally unintelligent and ignorant person who led an unnecessary and questionable invasion of a country for the sole purpose of overthrowing a regime because it posed threats to them. Under Bush, the United States has plunged into an economic crisis. You can't sit there and tell me that the Bush administration has nothing to do with it. Even the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi was quoted as saying "Consider the terrible consequences of the 'anything goes' Bush Administration, whose irresponsible non-regulation of financial institutions has led to this crisis."
Every single one of the governments or movements America was against in your list was completely evil and I don't know why you think it's ok to bash America in a forum that is trying to save America and loves America, as well as Israel.
I'll pick a couple from your pathetic list. Sudan??? Clinton bombed a chemical weapons program and they were harboring Osama Bin Laden who attacked the United States and they call that imperialism? If the left says imperialism enough, people begin to believe it.
I also suggest you and anyone who agrees with you, read your history about the Grant or Polk administrations, never mind the Carter Administration, when talking about the worst presidents in history.
Just looking at Libya, that was a bombing against Qaddafi after two of his intelligence officers helped kill hundreds of people on a Pan Am flight and we bombed them in retaliation. Completely justified.
No one here is going to agree with the attacks on Serbia and perhaps even the Gulf War.
I can't even list these all, Cambodia, who harbored Vietnamese troops to attack US forces and we righteously bombed those evil beasts. I know everything was better when the communists took over...oh wait, they killed 3 million people and ruined the country. They even wiped out the entire ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese populations there.
Oh and the lovely communist regimes of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. We never bombed them, we gave the opposition money and arms, which is not the same as being at war with someone. Maybe we should take that logic at face value? If a country supports your enemies and sells weapons to them, you are at war with them. That means Israel is at war with Russia, we are at war with the entire Muslim world and so on. I guess we can go down that path, but there will be a flip side to the left's arguments.
Topic: Guess what my college professor told a group of youngsters today. (Read 2950 times)