The Worldwide American Military Presence

U.S. Foreign Policy and the Lessons of History

May 24, 2009

American foreign intervention has cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars since the end of the Second World War. However, foreign intervention is not unprecedented.

During the Cold War, the United States drastically increased its overseas military presence under the auspices of NATO and the Western Wing of the United Nations. Powered by the economic bliss that accompanied the post-war boom, the powerful American economy was able to bear the financial burden of the anti-Soviet military buildup. The ubiquitous American military presence, and accompanying massive defense spending, successfully checked the growing Soviet influence over non-aligned nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, eventually bankrupting the Marxist command economy of the Soviet Union as it struggled to keep pace with ambitious American military projects, such as the Reagan- backed Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980s.

Effects of the Soviet Collapse on the Post-War Geopolitical Structure

The fall of the Soviet Union, however, brought with it some unforeseen side effects that complicated U.S. foreign policy. Under the post-war bipolar geopolitical power structure, newly independent, post-colonial third world nations jockeyed for position under either the Soviet or American umbrella. As post-Cold War foreign aid dwindled, emerging nations, particularly in the Soviet sphere, lost the wherewithal to effectively combat emerging domestic religious movements sprouting up within their borders, the most salient case being the Taliban’s emergence in the Afghani power vacuum left by withdrawing Soviet forces, and the ensuing political theocracy, which served as a Central Asian safe haven for religious extremists seeking a worldwide Islamic revolution and the reemergence of the medieval Islamic Caliphate, overseeing a reunified Islamic superpower encompassing Muslim nations from Pakistan to Morocco.

The power vacuum in the ashes of the receding Soviet Empire was filled by an increasing American military presence in emerging nations, particularly the Middle East, now unchecked by the Soviets. The precipitating event for American movement into the region, was Saddam Hussein’s ill-fated misadventure in neighboring Kuwait in August 1990. The shockwaves caused by Iraq’s sudden invasion of its tiny, oil-producing neighbor prompted the Saudi government to ask for U.S. assistance to discourage an Iraqi invasion of the oil-producing giant. Under United Nations Resolution 678, the U.S. led coalition was granted the latitude to use "any and all means available" to remove Hussein's forces from Kuwaiti soil through military force if necessary, which it did in January 1991.

U.S. Military Presence in the Middle East Angers Islamists

The presence of a non-Islamic coalition on the sacred Hijaz, the section Arabian Peninsula encompassing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, enraged a then little known Islamic militant named Osama bin Laden, who favored an Islamic resistance to Hussein, whom he also regarded as an infidel, through the use of Mujahideen based on the Afghan model. The coalition victory over Iraqi forces in 1991 and the establishment of long-term American military bases on Saudi soil, the most notable being Prince Sultan Air Base which closed in 2003, served to further enrage bin Laden and other religious extremists who issued a series of fatwas calling for an Islamic holy war against Western infidels, primarily Americans.

Learning from History

The burgeoning worldwide American military presence in the wake of Soviet withdrawals and the September 11th attacks has not come cheaply. The United States spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined, totalling 623 billion dollars for FY 2008, dwarfing China which finished a distant second spending only 65 billion for FY 2004.

America’s ubiquitous military and diplomatic presence is not unprecedented. The Romans, British, and Soviets all maintained a stranglehold over a number of interests beyond their borders and sustained a worldwide presence despite its eventual adverse effects on their national coffers. The costs of their foreign endeavors were unsustainable, and all three eventually crumbled under the fiscal weight of their international interests.

When viewed through the lens of history, the recent difficulties faced by the United States are placed into proper perspective. The cost of the American military intervention in Iraq has cost hundreds of billions at a time when the national real estate crisis has seriously depleted revenue, causing some Washington insiders to seriously reconsider American foreign policy, choosing to focus on the Afghan Theatre. After some revisions to the initial Obama timetable, U.S. troops are now slated for final withdrawal in 2011 as Iraqi authorities exercise more soveriegnty over domestic affairs.

George Santayana, in his classic Reason in Common Sense, stated, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And, in the context of modern life, those words have never been more prophetic. American policymakers would be wise to consider the lessons of history and analyze the endeavors of other nations before making policy decisions with serious economic and social repercussions.

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