Intentions in Afghanistan the Philippines: Benevolent gone awry

Are we really just "spreading democracy" and attempting to be a beacon of light for the rest of the Middle East to model themselves from? Or are we fighting an unjustifiable war that is only being fought for the interests of United States domestic politicians with ties to foreign relations? According to neo-liberals such as George Bush and Bill Clinton, we are in the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan being specific examples; "in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations." This passage was an article from a law passed in the Clinton administration entitled, "Iraq Liberation Act of 1998," These examples listed above are perfect nations for neo-liberals such as Clinton and G.W. Bush to attempt to instill the western, capitalist myth of a "free-market" where any nation can compete. What ends up happening is we head over to weaker nations with "benevolent intentions" but end up becoming involved in murder accusations of our troops. This is exactly the case that is happening in Afghanistan right now with five U.S. Army troops being accused of the murders of twelve Afghan civilians.

Well I thought we were supposedly over in Afghanistan to stabilize their government and set up a western-style system of capitalism. The problem is, the Shari ya (spelling), or the Islamic law, is completely against our western ideological system. Our diplomats and politicians are concerned with the lack of control in the Middle East by our war machine, and their concerns are valid. The Muslims who fundamentally hate the west will fight until their death for our presence to leave their region of the world. The wars in Afghanistan, and the continuing war in Iraq (the war in Iraq is not over, do not be fulled by false reports, troops are still being deployed in Iraq on a fairly constant basis) are completely unorganized and are full of troops whom do not know the correct way to conduct this new style of fighting. When we have a grunt accusing his Sergeant of telling the squadron to "wax this guy" referring to a regular Afghan citizen, then we as a nation are not spreading the "beacon of light" we once professed to posses as a group of citizens. The neo-liberals might tell you that we are going into oppressed nations, to "lift them in accordance with the rest of the world" with benevolent intentions, but as I have read many historians argue, mixing democracy, abolishing tyranny, spreading ideals, all with benevolent intentions, does not work out the way it was originally intended. The classic example of a failed occupation to "civilize and uplift" a particular nation was the United States occupation of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. When the natives would not assimilate to our way of life, on the set time schedule we planned for them, we decided we needed to force the change to occur. Those benevolent intentions quickly turned into visions of potentially huge investment by controlling the Philippines. We did not think twice about what we were doing to the natives; the popular thought at the time was how could the United States establish itself on a global scale via a Pacific point of view.

If there really is a threat in the Middle East, then I have no problem supporting the military if she is fighting for justifiable reasons. But to support an army that is getting a "thrill out of the killing of innocent Afghan civilians" is tough for me to conjure up the strength for. But apparently, being the sole hegemonic power means you as a nation must "search in order to find monsters to destroy." Are these "monsters" legitimate threats, or rather scapegoats for the United States to use to portray its dominance as the sole superpower in the world? The debate is real and alive, waiting to be pondered and critiqued by aspiring historians such as the students in this class.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-soldier-describes-thrill-kill-innocent-civilians-afghanistan/story?id=11732681

the link posted above is to the story on the five U.S. Army soldiers charged with pre-meditated murder.

-JT Liverman