The Archimedes Screw: How America's Foreign Policy Culture Has Managed to Stand Still Over the Last 55 Years.

The Archimedes Screw is one of the oldest machines in existence. Originally used to pump water, modern applications include self-stoking coal burners and ice dispensers. The screw looks like it's moving, due to it's rotation, but in reality, it's perfectly stationary. It's a visual lie. It's tricking the viewer into thinking it's progressing, while it's simply standing still.

This is similar to how America's foreign policy culture has acted since the Korean war in the early 1950's. We have allowed our country to stagnate in a state of global terrorism for half a century, blinded by claims of defending freedom.

Now, before you quit reading hear me out. What was the American military's role in every conflict in the last half of the 20^th century? We were trying to force OUR beliefs onto other cultures. First, we couldn't have communism spreading, leading to conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and a slew of Central American countries. We propped up and tore down a series of dictators, despots, and mass murderers to achieve our goals, which, we rarely achieved. In the 1980's and 90's, America continued this tradition in Africa the Middle East, and western Asia. We supplied gorilla fighters with weapons, ignored acts of genocide, and shook hands with leaders we would later use as feeble excuses to go to war in the 21^st century.

What is it about other cultures that threatens US interests? Is it the fact that we want to dominate the world? I seriously doubt it. But, if you look at our military history, we have been unable and unwilling to deal with other cultures or admit mistakes. It's easier to defend killing for “freedom”, than what is really going on (neo-colonialism).

It usually begins innocently enough. “Military Advisers”, “Peace Keeping Missions” and training local forces are how most of the conflicts in the last half of the 20^th century began. Of course, there were all out invasions, some of which failed (Bay of pigs). But the same theme is there. Raise Oil prices, have a system different than capitalism, try to develop a means to defend yourself, you get bombed. You get US, UN, and NATO troops kicking in doors, stealing people away in the night, holding them incommunicado for months, even years.

The US and it's allies have been at this for 50 years. They're good at it- or should I say, they're good at not looking like they're doing anything wrong.

But how is this wrong? Granted, a lot of the leaders and governments we've displaced really are the “bad guys”, but how is replacing one despot with another any better? In the US's eyes, as long as they do what we want, it's better. But this has backfired in the past. We've seen US placed DICTATORS commit horrible atrocities. In my mind, it's just the US acting through a “proxy server”- that is, not doing the work itself, but somehow getting someone else to do the wet work. How about this- any war crime or human rights abuse that these dictators have committed, the US should be held accountable for. Maybe that would lead to better leader selection when we invade sovergn nations. We knew that these guys would do things like this- we even enabled them (Giving chemical weapons to Hussein) – yet we still put them into power, for one reason or another. In Hussein's case, it was because he was a secular Muslim. Wow, that worked out well.

The thing we need to realize is, America is not a global government. America is the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii, and our “territories” (that's a whole other issue). We should not be imposing our will on a global scale. One extreme view of what's going on is that “America is doing what Hitler couldn't, just at a slower pace and through more subtle means”. I don't necessarily subscribe to this beliefs, but it is not hard to see how people think this.

Just one last thing, and I promised myself I wouldn't mention any specific leaders in this essay, since I wanted to analyze the problems, not place blame.

In a recent article posted on Unknownnews.com, Syed Saleem Shahzad of Asia Times wrote about sources saying that the US will be arming Suni Rebels in southern Iraq. It seems that old habits die hard (well, harder than “dissidents”, at least). You can view the article here.

Standing still while moving. The Archimedes Screw does it. So does US foreign policy.