Changes In Foreign Policy Since 9-11

4 Pages 1083 Words

On September 11th 2001, the function of foreign policy in America changed forever. Our foreign policy went from being a matter of world peace and trade policy to primarily a matter of the safety of the American people. The first action after this change, Operation Enduring Freedom, meant the beginning of a long process to disarm the worldwide threats to freedom. The second action officially began with the presidents words on January 28th, 2003. “If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.”(whitehouse.gov) This statement meant that Bush was growing inpatient with the current efforts to disarm Iraq. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks changed everything, including the Bush administration's thinking about the Middle East. Senior officials decided that unless action was taken, the Middle East would continue to be a breeding ground for terrorists. Officials feared that young Arabs would always look for someone to hate and that someone would always be Israel and the United States. Europeans thought the solution was to get a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. But American officials felt a Middle East peace agreement would only be part of the solution. The Bush administration felt that a new start was needed in the Middle East and that Iraq was the place to show that it is democracy, not terrorism, which offers hope.
From a structure function approach, Iraq is considered a worldwide deviant. This tag, is a result of the direct and constant defiance of the worldwide authority, the United Nations. This defiance stretched across twelve years following the end of the Persian Gulf War. Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed the meaning of these infractions in an address to the U.N. Security Council on Februrary 5th 2003 about U.N. Resolution 1441. “Resolution 1441 was not dealing with an innocent party, but a regime this council has...