Military Action

Notwithstanding a tendency to rely first on other foreign policy strategies, the United States has a long history of military involvement around the globe. While the United States has only declared war five times in its history, it has been involved in hundreds of armed conflicts in dozens of countries. These “undeclared wars” range in significance and scale from America’s prolonged involvement in Korea and Vietnam to bombing raids on Iraq. The United States has also launched devastating attacks on other nations or enemies, such as the Gulf War in the early 1990s and the post 9/11 actions in Afghanistan in 2001. In an attempt to limit the president’s ability to take the nation to war without an official congressional declaration, Congress passed the War Powers Act after the Vietnam War. This act allows the president to engage in hostilities with other nations only after consulting with the Congress “in every possible instance.” The Act further stipulates that the president must end hostilities within sixty days unless the Congress has either declared war or extended the sixty day period. A provision was also made for the president to go beyond sixty days if the safety of American troops would be jeopardized by withdrawing in that time frame. Presidential compliance with the War Powers Resolution has been uneven, at best. Some presidents have consulted Congress in some instances and only informed Congress after the fact in other instances. Most recently, President George W. Bush consulted extensively with congressional leaders and secured resolutions of support from both houses of Congress before sending troops into Iraq in 2003.

America's Officially Declared Wars

The United States has only made an official declaration of war five times:

When should the United States military get involved in the affairs of another nation? Under what circumstances are United States’ interests threatened enough to justify a response? During the cold war, when the Soviet Union was still in existence, these questions were easily answered. United States foreign policy was driven by its official commitment to contain the spread of communism and to maintain military superiority over the Soviets. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the almost complete failure of communism around the globe (with the notable exception of China), the United States lacked a clear set of goals and objectives to guide its military strategies. Since September 2001, however, the United States once again has enemies to worry about. Troublingly, they are much more difficult to identify and find.

With the threat of terrorist attacks and regional instability around the globe, U.S. military policy now enters a new phase in which President Bush has formally declared it will act together with others or by itself if necessary to protect its interests. Such actions may even be preemptive where there is an immediate threat of violence against the United States or its citizens. The United States enters the twenty-first century as the most powerful military power in the world. How the nation exercises that power will determine the nation’s place in the world community — and perhaps the very nature of that community — at the end of this century. There is perhaps no greater duty of citizenship than to pay attention to and participate in the debate about America’s use of its military might in the pursuit of its foreign policy objectives.