Openness in U S Policy

¶ … Policy of Openness in Bacevich's Work. Andrew Bacevich's book, American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy, sheds considerable light on just how the idea of an American empire reemerged after September 11. It also details many of the results of this reality. Essentially, the author argues the fact that the U.S. utilized the terrorist attacks it endured on the aforementioned late summer day as a means of revamping and expanding its imperial appetites.

Thus, it began to concentrate on a number of targets in the Middle East -- including Afghanistan and Iraq, in particular -- as a means of expanding its imperium. What is critical to the author's interpretation of these events is the fact that American foreign policy was predicated on a concept of openness since the conclusion of the Cold War, which terminated in 1989 well before the aforementioned terrorist attacks occurred. The author's point in observing this fact is that the U.S.

never made any commitment to de-militarize with any degree of cogency, and instead continued pursuing military encounters throughout the world (most notably in the Middle East with the Gulf War). This foreign of policy of openness had three main components -- economic, political, and militaristic ones. In this regard, the U.S. utilized the globalization phenomenon to continuously assert capitalist around the world. Moreover, it helped to facilitate this capitalism, which ultimately benefitted its own domestic interests, through the propagation of democracy on a global scale.

Finally, it reinforced these political and economic objectives with its military hegemony. This conception of openness reemerged with a vengeance after the events of 9/11. Initially, the U.S. targeted al Qaeda as its principal opponent, which resulted in the erection of democracies in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The purported beliefs that the U.S. was actually warring with these countries because of the monetary benefits of the oil in this region were legion at the time.

Thus, it is quite clear that there were economic advantages to its pursuits in these areas of international relations. Additionally, the political nature of these countries (particularly Iraq) changed in earnest, as that foreign power shifted from a dictatorship to a democracy in which elections were held. And, of course, these economic and political developments were implemented via the strength of the United States' military might.

What is critical to remember about these developments is that Bacevich poses them in the context of the larger strategy and foreign policy of openness that was propagated by this country in the aftermath of the Cold War. It was begat in earnest by George W.H. Bush and Bill Clinton, prior to George W. Bush's endeavors to expand the American empire in the aforementioned regions of the Middle East. It is worth noting that these results do not only include Afghanistan and Iraq.

There are American-based democracies erected in other parts of the Middle East, such as Syria, as well. The goal of these democracies and others in.