2fer#2 Revision--U.S. Military Involvement

Tomas Arango

Air Stream

10/8/15

 2Fer #2

 

There have been many cases where the US has gone into a  country to try and help resolve  the issues taking place at that time. However, sometimes that intervention can end up doing more harm than good. Throughout the period of involvement abroad, our military continues to send in troops who later cannot come home due to the intensity of fighting. Due to damage committed by bombings and drone strikes, there are high civilian casualties. All of this makes the U.S. look bad to those living in the occupied countries. As a superpower, the U.S. has a desire and the means to assist other countries in need. However, they overestimate their power to aid these countries, resulting in nonessential casualties and fatalities.   

After 9/11 this country was in a state of fear from presences in the Middle East such as Al-Queada. The U.S. government decided to go in and become active in the Middle East.  However, set intentions of finding “weapons of mass destruction” and Al Qaeda presence, slowly became a war for oil (Iraqi  war). Even though the U.S.  may go in with a set goal, it doesn’t always go as planned. When the war finally ended, bringing back troops was an issue due to the ongoing wars and conflicts in Middle Eastern countries and those surrounding it. In Places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan, and others,. The U.S. is involved in many ongoing conflicts and many consequences come along with it such as not being able to bring troops back home..

 

Drone strikes and bombings cause a lot of damage to the physical architecture and to the amount of civilian casualties. Just recently this week the U.S. bombed a hospital in Afghanistan, killing 12 medical staff members, at least 10 patients, and 37 were wounded. There is an extensive body of law that regulates military action during conflict, and there needs to be a line to draw balance in between what the military can do and what is justified to do out of necessity. According to an interview from CNN, "Hospitals enjoy a special protected status under international humanitarian law. So, to attack a hospital or medical facility, whether it is a civilian or military installation, is a crime," This justifies that bombing the hospital would be considered a war crime, and it  that the U.S. overestimated the amount of power needed to eliminate threat which resulted in civilian deaths and injuries.

The U.S. defense budget is where the majority of this country's money goes to. An amount of about $666-$672 billion dollars every year. That’s more than China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, UK, India, and Germany combined according to the P.G.P Foundation.  (Links to an external site.)It takes more resources than the military anticipates to go abroad to assist other countries, and going to war. Being a military power house to the world, the U.S.can be overpowered and overestimate that power. This doesn’t always lead to deaths abroad, but it plays a role in ocupation abroad.

 

The U.S. plays a big role in today's world especially with its military. This country has made allies and helped many other countries with threats they once faced. When asked, the U.S. military might say that conflicts abroad and wars they are fighting are for the greater good. But on closer inspection, the U.S. military causes a lot of damage and casualties along the way that they don’t pay attention too due to being a military superpower.

Sources

Mullen, Jethro, and Ashley Fantz. "Afghan Hospital Bombing: Civilians 'accidentally Struck' - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 6 Oct. 2015. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/05/asia/afghanistan-doctors-without-borders-hospital/ (Links to an external site.)>.

 

Mackay, Mari. "Afghan Hospital Bombing: Is It a War Crime? - CNN.com."CNN. Cable News Network, 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/05/asia/kunduz-hospital-bombing-war-crime/ (Links to an external site.)>.

-"U.S. Defense Spending Compared to Other Countries." Pgpf.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015. <http://pgpf.org/Chart-Archive/0053_defense-comparison (Links to an external site.)>.

 

Reflection

When revising my 2fer I fixed and deleted many unnecessary sections that didn't contribute to my main idea. I also revised my conclusion paragraph. I fixed it so it didn't sound like an intro paragraph and utilized one of the conclusions we wrote in class during one of the activities. Overall I feel like my 2fer is stronger than it was compared to the first time I submitted it. 

Comments (2)

Husain Kegler (Student 2017)
Husain Kegler

This 2fer expanded my thinking by showing me that The United States is not as helpful as they say. In your 2fer you showed me numerous examples, supporting your thesis which is, The US Military does more harm, than helping out a country. One, thing that I found that was important to your 2fer was that the US military bombed a hospital in Afghanistan which is a crime. The thing that has me confused is that why would someone bomb a hospital in the first place, no matter what the circumstances might be. I can see if people were hiding weapons and bombs in it, but the US military hurt numbers. But, This was a great 2fer, I enjoyed reading.

Tuyet Corson (Student 2017)
Tuyet Corson

I knew already about the topic of your 2fer is that the U.S over estimates how much power in which its held. The U.S tends also to forget about the people they send over to battle the wars and the cost they pay which is far higher then many other countries. What I learned is that The U.S. Can't Bomb hospitals its is a war crime to do so and that the U.S has no really line that drawn on what they should do and what is not need. Over all this was a Good paper and has some vary clear focus points.