How Useful Is It to Define Us Military Interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan as Imperialist.”

How useful is it to define US military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan as imperialist?

The US military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan undoubtedly had very strong imperialist undertones behind the initial motives. Imperialism is typically taken to mean a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force[1]. It is usually operated from centre as policy of state, driven by grandiose Project of power: ideology. With the case of Iraq, President Bush put forward 3 defining reasons for going to war: to eliminate Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, to diminish the threat of international terrorism and to promote democracy in Iraq and the areas surrounding it. The US has a history with Afghanistan that goes as far as the late 20th century whilst the Soviets still held a strong foothold within the country. However, the reasons presented by the Bush administration for the invasion was as a response to 9/11 attacks with the stated goal of dismantling al-Qaeda and ending the group’s use of Afghanistan as a terror base. At first glance, these reasons are seemingly positive, however, were these reasons simply stated in order to mask the real reason of modern imperialism? Why Iraq? Why Afghanistan? This essay will dissect and critically analyze the initial reasons given for militarily intervening in Iraq and Afghanistan and put forward the idea of ‘oil politics’ which will ultimately lead to the understanding that the motives behind both interventions were imperialist.

It is no secret that the USA has had a long history of Imperialism over the last 150 years or so. Lessons can be learnt from past experiences and it can be seen over several decades that the ‘massacre of civilian populations was always an integral part of US war strategy[2]’. This can also be seen in the interventions of Afghanistan and Iraq whereby many civilians have died. Moreover, the US has had a history of supporting rogue leaders and then withdrawing...