2. is talk about AFTER ww2. the nazis were gone. i talk about the 27 other wars.
For future reference, I wouldn't recommend using Tumblr as a source, as it's so often biased (as in this case) or just plain inaccurate, mostly because it's a
freakin' social networking site.
That being said, the list you provided is both inaccurate and misleading. First, many of the 'Wars' were not full-scale wars, but smaller conflicts and military operations. Of the conflicts listed, a few of them are one conflict spread out over many years. I believe the actual count is 22 (The three listed dates in Guatemala are all part of the Guatemalan Civil War, while the conflicts in Laos and Cambodia were both part of the Vietnam war). Of those 22 conflicts, the United States initiated 10 (if we include the Bay of Pigs, which was actually fought by cuban counter-revolutionaries trained and supplied by the United States and Vietnam, which was joined, not initiated, by the United States). So, here I present a more accurate list:
Military Actions initiated by the United States since World War Two:
Bay of Pigs, Cuba (1961)--A military attack undertaken by Cuban counter-revolutionaries trained and supplied by the United States.
United States involvement in Vietnam (1961-73)--A civil war in which American Forces provided military support and power to one side.
Invasion of Grenada (1983)Operation El Dorado Canyon, Libya (1986)Operation Nimble Archer, Iran (1987)--An American bombing of Iranian Oil riggs in response to an attack on a non-belligerent vessel in Kuwait by Iran.
Invasion of Panama (1989)--Occurred due to the threat of attack on United States Citizens living in the U.S. owned Panama Canal territory.
Afghanistan/Sudan (1998)--Bombing of alleged terrorist sites in Afghanistan and Sudan.
Afghanistan War (2001-Present)Iraq War (2003-2011)The rest of the conflicts were either sanctioned by the UN (including but not limited to the
Korean War and the
First Gulf War), joint NATO operations such as
Yugoslavia (1999) (which, by the way, included the Netherlands), or conflicts in which the United States provided
support, but not actual military power, exemplified in the
Guatemalan Civil War and
Nicaraguan Revolution, the only exception being the
Chinese Civil War, in which the United States provided (mostly) non-violent military support at the end of World War Two.
This is a far cry from your accusation of us as a warmongering, imperialist nation.
In fact, some of these, especially the strike on Iran in 1987, bring up the question of increasing unofficial United States hegemony. The United States has become the de facto world police, exemplified by
Somalia in 1993 and the aforementioned strike in Iran. When someone breaks international law as drafted by the UN, it's generally up to the United States to impose the consequences. I understand that nobody
asked us to fill this position, but that's irrelevant. Nobody else was filling that position (certainly not the UN). Likewise, I also understand that the US doesn't always act in the best interests of the international community, but whether or not we act as a police force, we are still a
nation, and have our own interests. The trouble is that many people seem to get confused between the actions taken in our own interest and the actions taken for international interest.
Drawing this back to the topic, if Iran breaks international law as defined by the UN, or the UN determines Iran is an international threat and sanctions military action, whose job is it to enforce those decisions?
