Week 13

America tends to seek out promoting the spread of freedom, democracy, and protection of America national security. This is seen in the quote on page 3 saying, “This meant using any means necessary to bring the Islamic world into conformity with prescribed American norms.” However, as seen in the view that they protect this freedom through military means that the United States is perpetually caught in these wars with no deadlines and no real objectives, as Bacevich says, “The United States today finds itself threatened by three interlocking crises.” 

Bacevich describes the connection between freedom and the empire, so as American freedom increases so does the hunger for spreading these “seeds of democracy.” This is seen in the quote, “The resulting sense of entitlement has great implications for foreign policy. Simply put, as the American appetite for freedom has grown, so too has our penchant for empire.” Bacevich describes how he views the increasing spread of American norms and values to also be fueling the creation of what appears to be the desire for the American empire as well even if it is not consciously recognized by the average citizen.

I think that having parameters on the conflict may be useful. For example, Bacevich describes Bush’s policy as fighting terrorism with “any means necessary” and that also meant that “Americans were slow to grasp the implications of a global war with no existence and no deadlines.” This meant that the American public did not fully understand the scale of conflict they were getting involved in. And furthermore, the government had no real exit or even entry plan to monitor their progress in the Middle East. Therefore, the wars were largely governed by perceived threats, ideologies, and fears versus anything quantifiable.