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Besides the Civil and maybe with exception Iraq and Mexico 1848, has the United States ever started and was involved with fighting that war? The reasons I say this is becuase we are always being touted as "War Mongers" and I don't really see it. What I do see is that we get dragged into sh8t and then get blamed for it.
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"Motion does not equal progress"...Cos
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Last edited by Cosmos; 11th October 2009 at 22:43.
I Suppose it's more the involvment of america in "every" war, or regional conflict there is.
Korean war, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq etc. I'm not taking sides here, but I do suppose those wars are the reason USA is beeing referred to as war mongers. Altough, most of these wars or conflicts have been of great political interest to the US. Logical to interfere then.
You missed the Spanish-American war. But we haven't declared war since 1942.
However, we've had so many small invasions, arranged so many coups and waged so man proxy wars around the globe that it's too much to keep track of. We're not called 'Yanqui Imperialists' for nothing. Ever since the Monroe Doctrine and even further the Roosevelt Corollary we've made it our duty to police the Western Hemisphere with little to no regard for other countries' borders up until about 1989. There were Kosovo and Iraq bombing campaigns in the 90s as well. We also get involved in lots of places we don't belong like Somalia. Bay of Pigs was a spark as well. (It's late, my memory banks are fading).
Last edited by glowrider; 12th October 2009 at 07:43.
Not so much officially starting a war, but the US has been instrumental in instigating/perpetuating many of the civil wars in the rest of the world.
- Central America (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama)
- South America (Operation Condor)
- Indonesia (no doubt in aid of England, who was keen to protect it's colonial interests in Malaysia)
- Angola
- Pakistan
If you review our history, it's rare that we 'get dragged into' any of the conflicts we participate in (oddly, WWII is an example of us being dragged in). We typically wade right in with guns blazing, though often surreptitiously.
There is a case to be made that the US has been "dragged into" pretty much every major conflict we have ever been in. Maybe not as directly as, say, Pearl Harbor, but certainly along the lines of, "Well, Saddam was threatening the oil fields in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and we had to go in to protect them and our interests."
Depending on perspective, there's a reason for damn near everything.
Last edited by glowrider; 13th October 2009 at 05:09.
Not so much officially starting a war, but the US has been instrumental in instigating/perpetuating many of the civil wars in the rest of the world.
- Central America (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama)
- South America (Operation Condor)
- Indonesia (no doubt in aid of England, who was keen to protect it's colonial interests in Malaysia)
- Angola
- Pakistan
If you review our history, it's rare that we 'get dragged into' any of the conflicts we participate in (oddly, WWII is an example of us being dragged in). We typically wade right in with guns blazing, though often surreptitiously.
Conversely, the US was instrumental in ending the conflict in Ulster.
__________________ **** it, let's do it - Australian proverb
But on the flip side the US also funded the Irish uprising and the IRA's terror campaign through NorAid and Shinfane, case of doing both there then I'd guess. After 911 it couldn't happen again.
As mentioned before the one conflict that stands out because the US was reluctant (read would never have got involved in but for Pearl Habour) was World War 2! Who was asking for help then?? Good job its not tit for tat!
As mentioned before the one conflict that stands out because the US was reluctant (read would never have got involved in but for Pearl Habour) was World War 2! Who was asking for help then?? Good job its not tit for tat!
Jay
Your history here is a bit incomplete. We had already been informally at war with the Japanese prior to Pearl Harbor. We were sending aid (along with other Allies and the Soviet Union) to China, and Japan had went to war with China and captured Manchuria and other Chinese provinces. The Japanese relied on US and Allied petroleum and steel imports, amongst others, and as a consequence of their invasion of China, the US (and others) put a stifling embargo on the Japanese. The Japanese also got petrol from the East Indies (Dutch) and Burma which had also joined in in the embargo. The Japanese who had been fighting not only the Chinese but also the Soviets, signed a pact with the Soviets to end hostilities. But, the US financed the AVG which sent the Flying Tigers over and actively engaged the Japanese in the place of the departing Soviets. The embargoes came from all over and went even as far as Australia. A Japanese company tried to take over a major iron ore mine in Australia which was successfully blocked. So, they decided to invade French Indochina (what is now commonly referred to as Vietnam).
So, as you can see, Pearl Harbor wasn't done in a vacuum. We had already informally been at war with the Japanese by the time they bombed Pearl Harbor - it was just a different war. Most countries view active embargoes as declarations of war - and we did also have fighters over there, though they were loosely affiliated with the government of FDR.
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