American Foreign Policy After 9/11

America’s Foreign Policy
After 9/11 many lives were lost which impacted many of American’s daily lives, now this catastrophic event will be remembered in history forever. Not only will Americans never forget 9/11, but their perception of the attackers will change as well. Many never thought that they would be attacked and especially they never thought that a terrorist attack could be carried out so efficiently and devastate so many. As a result, many Americans decide to change their foreign policy, now more than ever they believed that the only way to prevent anything like this from happen again is if they enforce and change their foreign policy towards the middle east and neighboring countries.
After 9/11 many lives were forever changed.
As described in the article “U.S. Foreign Policy After 9/11,” the president at the time, George Bush, announced the only way to stop and prevent another act of terror was to destroy it at its core ( Steve Jones).
With this in mind the U.S started to increase its military and focus it on the Middle East. Just like the President many, Americans believed the only solution on ending the fear of having another surprise attack was if the military was able to stop their leaders and completely destroy the organization/group that has cause so much chaos. In other words, unlike previous wars where the U.S has decided to talk things over and negotiate they immediately decided to go and attack and not wait for them to strike again. Keeping in mind the faster they are able to get rid of the problem the faster they will be able to feel at peace and safe back home. To add on this, the U.S has this image to uphold their superiority. They are known to have the American dream where if a person is successful they will obtain a home with a family and live relatively a good life. However, just as Maxime H.A. Larivé said in his article, “The Making of American Foreign Policy in the Post 9/11 World,” that America is fighting “evil.” Meaning America isn't living up to it's reputation since 9/11 has left many Americans terrified with another devastating attack. Causing the president to
notice this he must make the U.S seem as the superpower that remains on top and maintains its reputation. Resulting in many Americans coming into the conclusion that it is their duty as a powerful country to fight and defeat these “evil” terrorists and to prevent its own home just like other countries from having to experience an attack first hand. In other words, many americans fell to the belief that they must uphold a reputation where they come out as victorious and on top just as they have done in other wars such as world war 1 and 2. Overall this pressure of having to maintain this image has led to an enormous military increases presence in the foreign affairs and especially in the Middle east.
As the war rages on in the middle east, many Americans have this perception that those in the middle east are “evil.” However, in the article, “Roots of War,” by Barbara Ehrenreich, she refutes this idea by saying that no person is actually born evil.
Yet, many Americans fail to see her understanding. Just as she said, she points out that a man isn't born evil, their society and their surroundings make them who they are and especially their personal background and furthermore their experience as a whole builds a person. What she wants her audience to understand is that because they were attacked by muslims that doesn't necessary mean that every muslim is “evil.” On the other hand, many Americans fail to see this distinction; resulting on our foreign policies to get tougher, stricter, but most important increase our military buildup and presence. With this in mind many Americans see them as an “evil” that must be destroyed as soon as possible, leading to the U.S having to be present and having to keep the people of the Middle East on check at all possible times. As demonstrated in the film, “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden,” by Morgan Spurlock, the audience actually gets to see what it's really like to live in war zone places. Throughout the film we see how many lives in war torn cities were not offered education or supplies to survive, they were seen as families that were forgotten. The foreign policy that the United States had decided to take on was that they would
give aid to those families whose homes have been destroyed, but the money falls into the hands of dictators and corrupt people that keep the supplies to themselves and not give it to their people that are in huge need. Because we still decide to attack and actively participate in the war we are simply contributing to the poverty in those countries. Our foreign policy has made it possible for us to expand our military but as we do so we also expand the the number of those that are poor and in dire need of help; contributing to people falling desperate and making life changing decisions such as becoming a terrorist (irony) (Spurlock) . In other words, with us being there we are only truly helping ourselves and not those in need adding more problems to out terrorist containment policy. We arent as so much worried about who we hurt in the process as long as the U.S comes out on top. Yet to make things clear, our foreign policy is to help and prevent anything from 9/11 to minuter terrorist attacks from happening around the world and especially try to prevent it from happening in our country. We must understand on the other hand, that with our involvement we are trying to do good by saying and proposing all these good ideas to solve our middle eastern problem, but after an attack like 9/11 our foreign policy will mainly be seen as the U.S puts its self interest and will do things that will benefit us, making us safe, and wealthy while other countries are left alone with an increase in poverty and violence.
Keeping in mind that the United States wants to be seen as a powerful country they are hunting down many people that have been involved with terrorism or are have become a suspect. This leads for them to flee to other near by countries. Our foreign policy doesn't only apply to the middle east, now more than ever it is affecting every country around the world. An example would be, “Not Your Homeland” by Edwidge Danticat, she gives a personal anecdote of how she was being treated in the United States now that her home was being invaded by fleeing terrorists. Our foreign policy instead of trying to contain terrorism, we have caused it to spread like wildfire, causing many neighboring countries to be affected ( just like Hati ) economically and especially socially, since like Danticat, their home isn't safe anymore.