US Intervention and Neglection in Global Conflicts

US Intervention and Neglection in Global Conflicts

Abstract

The United States of America rarely sends its military troops to intervene in other nations’ conflicts. The reason for this precaution is because involving the military usually makes the situation more severe. Involving their military forces can also bring about reduced credibility in case the mission is unsuccessful, citizens becoming skeptical of military operations to be carried out in the future, and threatens the nations’ vital interests, which could either be humanitarian or security-related. US policymakers view global instability as a constant threat to US security. Despite the US being in the front line advocating for enforcement of humanitarian laws and democracy worldwide, it failed to intervene during the Armenian and the Rwandan genocides. The Armenian genocide took place during the rule of President Woodrow Wilson in 1915, whereas the Rwandan genocide occurred in the period when Bill Clinton was president of the United States. The Rwandan genocide occurred in 1994, whereby about 70% of Tutsi living in the country were slaughtered. The Armenian genocide was mainly along religious lines whereby the Ottoman authorities who were Muslims wanted to eliminate the Armenians who were otherwise Christians. In 1918 President Woodrow Wilson outlined the 14 points which were to act as a strategy for peace negotiations. The fourteen points can be summarized as; international seas were to be free to navigate in times of war and peace, trade between countries was to be free, worldwide reduction in the armory by all nations, and fair claims over land and regions.

Introduction

Conflict is an outcome of high political unrest and poverty. It can be caused by inequalities, religious, economic, or political, among ethnic groups. Conflict results in war, moral decay, human rights violation, political instability, and socioeconomic issues.  The most common cause of conflict is change or difference in ideologies, and it is almost always the primary cause of war. If not controlled or managed correctly, violent conflict ultimately results in war. (Weinstein, 2005) Intervention means the involvement of outside parties in problem-solving. Conflict intervention is whereby a particular system influences a conflict in a different mode or rule. Conflict intervention is a requirement when it comes to conflict resolution. Some key strategies useful in conflict resolution include; avoidance, competition, accommodating, collaboration, and compromise.

Genocide is defined as intentionally destroying a whole or part of a religious, racial, ethnical, or national group by ensuring the group becomes nonexistent. Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer, came up with the word genocide in 1944 by combining the Greek word for the race with the Latin word for killing. Genocide was declared an act of crime in 1948. The Holocaust of World War II, which involved the systematic murder of millions of European Jews, was the first described case of genocide. The Armenian genocide occurred even before the word genocide was invented and was therefore termed as genocide late since it involved the systematic killing of Armenians.

Both domestic and external influences cause genocide, but its root cause is by the regime in power. Some local impacts could be; overpopulation, psychosocial issues, ethnic misunderstandings, and social cleavages. The Rwandan genocide, for example, is said to have significantly been influenced by both colonial and neocolonial manipulations. World War I contributed to the Armenian genocide, and the Ottoman empire’s authorities were the main partakers in the war. The Rwandan genocide, which took place in 1994, had significant similarities with the Nazi Holocaust. Such similarities are; military and ideological preparations before the genocide, and the justification of murder by use of conspiracy myths and theories. During the Rwandan genocide, approximately one million innocent lives were taken within three months. In the Armenian genocide, over one million out of the one and a half million Armenians residing within the multiethnic Ottoman Empire were killed. Deaths of the Armenians resulted from; ill-treatment such as starvation, individual killings, and massacres. People have different views about the Armenian genocide as to whether it was premeditated or it was not deliberate. A crucial indicator of why the Ottoman empire suddenly shifted from its accommodationist policy to widespread slaughter were concerned about its external security. The United States had reasons why it did not intervene in the Armenian and Rwandan genocides during president Woodrow Wilson’s and President Bill Clinton’s administration, respectively.

The Armenian and Rwandan genocides

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian genocide describes the process by which the Armenians were deported and massacred systematically by the Turks of the Ottoman empire. Even though the word genocide was not in existence during the period when the massacre occurred, historians describe the atrocities against the Armenians as genocide. Christianity was first used as the official religion in Armenia. Armenia became integrated into the Ottoman empire in the 15^th century. The main goal of the Ottoman government was to make the empire an entirely Muslim polity by getting rid of all Armenians. To achieve this goal and drive all Armenians away, they were subjected to injustices such as paying higher taxes and having fewer legal and political rights and participation as compared to the Muslims. Despite the crimes performed against them, the Armenians managed to become wealthier and more educated than the Turks. Their success attracted resentment from the Turks was probably a secondary cause of the genocide.

In 1894-1896, Turkish soldiers and military officials murdered many Armenians as a response to their protests against the injustices against them. Young Turks came into power in 1908. The Ottoman Turks joined World War 1, siding with the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Turks were very suspicious that the Armenians would support the Russians in the war since Russia was a Christian government. By 1914, the Armenians were already being portrayed as a threat to the Ottoman empire by the authorities. (Melvin, 2019). The Armenian genocide began in the year 1915 when a considerable number of Armenian intellectuals were arrested and executed. Armenians were driven out of their homes and forced to march across the Mesopotamian desert with no food and water. Approximately one million Armenians had died or had become refugees by 1918. Children were forcefully converted to Islam and given away to Turkish families. Women were raped and taken as slaves. Almost all Armenians of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared by 1923.

Through the years, the US and other nations who are allies to Turkey have been reluctant to recognize the atrocities against the Armenians as genocide. There was a change when the US congressional panel voted to acknowledge the events as genocide in March 2010. The most recent update was on October 29, 2019, when the US House of Representatives passed a resolution that recognized the Armenian genocide.

The Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan genocide entailed mass killings of the minority Tutsi by the Hutu. The genocide started on April 6, 1994, after an airplane having the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira on board, was shot down. Both of the involved presidents were Hutus. The Hutus had become the dominant group after forcing many Tutsis to flee Rwanda in 1959 during the Hutu revolution. Approximately one million lives were lost within three months. The lives lost made part of about 20% of the country’s total population. Among the 20%, Tutsis constituted about 70%. Ordinary civilians performed most of the actual killings in the countryside.

Reasons for US Failure to Intervene in the Armenian and Rwandan Genocides

President Woodrow Wilson and President Bill Clinton failed to intervene in the Armenian and the Rwandan genocides, respectively. The main reason which was standard at both times was that both genocides did not affect American lives and interests and were therefore not of any concern to the American government. During the Armenian genocide, there were diplomatic and humanitarian responses by the US government. The diplomatic answer was given by the American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau. Morgenthau argued that whatever was going on was entirely a domestic affair, and he had no right to interfere. He brought about the concept of sovereignty. He explained that the Turkish government had complete control over the Ottoman Empire, and the US had no business interfering with how it treated its subjects.

The humanitarian response was offered by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. President Woodrow Wilson was reluctant to intervene because they had not violated any rights of an American citizen. It was also hard for the US government to intervene because genocide cannot be defined adequately according to the number of lives lost. This made it difficult to tell whether genocide was taking place; thus, no plans for intervention were made. The best way to stop genocide is by preventing it from happening. One way of prevention would involve separating ethnic groups. The approach of separating groups went against the US traditional way of solving problems, which is nation-building. President Woodrow Wilson could not come up with an intervention strategy that would involve separating the two groups but instead sought ways of bringing nations together. He came up with the fourteen points and hoped to stop World War 1.

Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points were formulated as a strategy to advocate for peace. They were outlined on January 8, 1918. When President Woodrow Wilson described the 14 points, he had lasting world peace in mind. The fourteen points included;

1. There would be open diplomacy whereby no secret agreements and treaties would be made between countries.
2. Freedom to navigate the seas in peace and war.
3. Economic barriers shall be removed, and similar trading conditions shall be established.
4. There shall be a worldwide reduction in weapons and armies by all countries.
5. Fairness in colonial claims over land and regions shall be ensured.
6. Russia will become a sovereign state.
7. German troops will leave Belgium, and Belgium will be an independent country.
8. French territory will be restored.
9. Italian boundaries will be re-established.
10. Austria-Hungary will be allowed to continue to be an independent country.
11. Balkan boundaries will be redrawn.
12. The Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire will have their own country. Other nationalities under the Ottoman rule will also have security.
13. Poland shall be an independent country.
14. A group of Nations will be formed that ensures the protection of the independence of all other countries.

The fourteen points did not accomplish their goal because they didn’t prevent World War 11. During Woodrow Wilson’s administration, the word genocide did not exist, which made it hard to conclude whether the Turkish government had committed acts of genocide, and thus no interventions were possible.

The United States did not intervene in the Rwandan genocide under Bill Clinton’s administration because the nation was still recovering from the disastrous operation it had undertaken in Somalia that had left 18 army rangers dead. President Clinton considered his upcoming polls and how the citizens would have reacted if he intervened following the previous failed African mission. Another reason for the failed Rwandan intervention was the lack of national interest at stake. President Clinton viewed genocide as a moral issue and urged the Rwandan government and the rebels to put it to stop themselves. US military intervention should be reserved for protecting vital American national security interests instead.

Rwanda did not qualify for a US intervention as per the Presidential Decision Directive 25 (PDD-25). (Power, 2003:332). Another concern was that substantial evidence is always needed to prove that genocide is taking place so that intervention plans can be made. Lastly, the US troops would not have been deployed in time to stop the genocide completely. This is majorly due to the mode of transport requirements.

Conclusion

The US had reasons for not intervening in the Armenian and the Rwandan genocides such as questionable evidence that genocide is taking place, inability to adequately define genocide in terms of the number of lives lost, and lack of national security interest. Reasons for failed intervention during Woodrow Wilson’s administration were different from those during Bill Clinton’s administration. However, they shared a common idea, which was a lack of national security interest

Works Cited

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