Richard Garrison

US Comprehensive History
Dr. Jonathan Bryant
13 November 2015
Overthrow
It is quite refreshing to be assigned a piece of literature that provides
criticism to American foreign policy of past and present. So long gone is the idea
that the United States conducts itself ethically and fairly when dealing with foreign
governments and institutions. Stephan Kinzers Overthrow: Americas Century of
Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq discusses the several ugly incidents where the
United States has expressed the dark side to what most Americans perceived at the
time to be good qualities. Such qualities were to include economic prosperity,
individualism, evangelism, exploration, and expansion. Instead the United States
has put into action greed, exploitation, carelessness, uninformed. There also seems
to be an underlying message that the United States, which its citizens are told was
founded upon principles of liberty, freedom, democracy, and the pursuit of
happiness, has become habitual in denying such truths to the institutions it has
overthrown. Consider this quote from page 315 of Overthrow,
There is no stronger or more persistent strain on the
American character than the belief that the United States
is a nation uniquely endowed with virtue. Americans
consider themselves to be in Herman Melvilles words a
peculiar, chosen people, the Israel of our times.
The most compelling case that describes the failure of American policy has to
be that of the Iraq War due to the sheer size of the operation in terms of manpower
and capital, the vast amount of misinformation, and the lasting ramifications
following the invasion. Even recent events describe the negative effects of disposing
of the Saddam Hussein regime to include a developing civil war between Sunni and
Shiite Iraqis, the development of the Islamic State, and the power vacuum in the
Middle East region. If Kinzers book was to undergo a revision it would have to
describe the power vacuum in question. Its obvious that the United States wanted
to create a sphere of influence in the region by installing a puppet state. Its Ironic
that Iran (a nation that underwent an Islamic revolution that disposed of an
American figurehead) has filled the void created by a weak Iraq and wields
considerable influence.
One can make a convincing argument that the destabilization of the region by
the American invasion led to Arab Spring. The results were the overthrow of the
Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya, the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and the

ongoing civil war in Syria. To add insult to injury Russian military forces has come to
the aide of Assad therefore establishing themselves as a player in the Middle East.
Never before has an overthrow endorsed by the United States government
has led to such a large geographical area being destabilized at once. Never before
has the results been so costly in loss of life and capital. At least when governments
were undermined in South and Central America it only affected that particular
country at a time.
There are always parallels in history and the subject of American foreign
policy is no different. Kinzer argue that the invasion of Iraq mirrors that of the
invasion of the Philippines. This demonstrates how there has been little change to
the nations core beliefs on its doctrine.
The parallels between McKinleys invasion of the
Philippines and Bushs invasion of Iraq were startling.
Both presidents sought economic as well as political
advantage for the United Sates. Both were also
motivated by a deep belief that the United States has a
sacred mission to spread its form of government to
faraway countries. Neither doubted that the people who
lived in those countries would welcome Americans as
liberators. Neither anticipated that he would have to fight
a long counterinsurgency war to subdue nationalist
rebels. Early in the twenty first century, ten decades
after the United States invaded the Philippines and a few
years after it invaded Iraq, those two countries were
among the most volatile and unstable in all of Asia.
Unfortunately this assonance between two events would only imply that Iraq
has a dark future ahead, decades ahead.
The weakest case for long term failure had to be that of Hawaii. The only
reason that rules out a Hawaiian failure was that the United States would make the
island a protectorate and later a state. Now only traces of what native culture were
Hawaii remains. However, one must consider that the stark difference between
Hawaiis regime change and that of others was orchestrated by American civilians
and not mercenaries, employed military, or direct government action.