United And Peaceful Bosnia example essay topic

The United States Involvement in Bosnia; is it positive or negative. After a lifetime of war in Bosnia, can the United States really offer positive change? To truly get a feel for the conflict in this region we must first look at the long-standing hatred between the occupying ethnic groups: Serbs, Muslims, and Croats. From 1481 to 1903 the Ottoman Empire was the ruling body over the entire Balkan region.

By the early nineteen hundreds the Ottoman Empire had collapsed. In 1918, at the end of World War One, Russia annexed the Balkan region renaming it Yugoslavia. In 1919 Joseph Stalin, Communist ruler of Russia and its satellite states (i.e. Yugoslavia), appointed Tito to be the head of Yugoslavia. Tito quickly became an iron fisted and ruthless dictator. The Machiavellian characteristics exhibited by Tito have given all Serbs a reputation as being strong armed and merciless. With Tito's death in 1991, Yugoslavia collapsed and split into 3 independent states: Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Croatia.

In 1994 Slovadon Malosovitch was elected ruler of the Serbian state. Incidents of mass genocide and several other war crimes became regular occurrences under his rule. The Bosnian crisis has shown the world the worst of human nature. On behalf of the United Nations, in an effort to settle the unrest in the Balkan region, The United States became involved in 1995. The United States involvement includes: the commitment of twenty thousand troops, the troop support of legions of tanks and other vehicles, and the "full support" of the United States Government.

Unfortunately this upset the native Bosnian people. So, although the United States feels obligated to help the Bosnian Cause, they may be worsening the situation with their involvement, both there and in the U. S There are two sides to this story. The first is the opinion that the United States should completely withdraw from Bosnia. The other opinion is that the United States should go headlong and give Bosnia their full support, and commit more troops and more supplies to the Bosnian Cause.

There are some positive things done by the United States in Bosnia. The presence of U. S troops did bring temporary peace to the area. Although the peace is purely an act, it does give leaders time to talk and plan without worrying about their people dying. Also, the United States presence in Bosnia helped to eradicate the most horrific problem in Bosnia, large Serbian concentration camps and mass Albanian genocide.

United States troops were deployed to tear down old concentration camps and free the inhabitants of current ones. The troops also uncovered mass burial sites where the Serbian Government, under Slovadon Malosovitch, ordered the killing of thousands of ethnic Albanians. The discovery of these sites is a key element in the conviction of Slovadon Malosovitch on war crimes charges taking place presently. Had the U. S properly occupied the region, providing aide while allowing educated economic analyst to run the economy, it is possible they could have restored the economy. Although there are good things being done, The United States affairs in Bosnian are impairing their foreign policy, and the bad things heavily outweigh the goods. The United States is torn with whom to side in this dispute.

If the United States side with the Serbian government, then the Croats and Muslims become their enemies. On the other hand if they side with the Muslim and Croat extremist then, a very powerful, very influential Serbian government looks on them in abhorrence. If they pull out all together, the on looking nations of the U. N might view the action as weak and lacking commitment. Either way, there is no clean "out" for the United States in this situation. "Rather than making clear to our allies and to the belligerents themselves the limits of American involvement, Ms. Albright's comments hold out the prospect of greater involvement.

There is no reasonable number of ground troops that can end this crisis" (Time, 2). This quote states the general feeling of the people in the Clinton Administration towards the United States actions in Bosnia. In relation to foreign policy, the United States has made another grave mistake. Their involvement is too little to do the job they set for themselves. The United States committed twenty thousand troops to Bosnia, yet they set a clearly defined goal to restore peace, create unity, end racial bigotry, and provide economic stability to the Balkan Region. The potential was there for the United States to do some real good in Bosnia.

Unfortunately, their efforts only complicated the situation more. Even in a place as horrible as Bosnia, the United States has no place there. It is not their fight. They need to consider their own affairs and think about reconciling domestic issues before worrying about troop commitments.

"Contrary to public knowledge Bosnian do not want the United States there" (Freed 2). This is the feeling of the general Bosnian public stated by an expert. The only people United States troops are reassuring are the heads of state. All the United States is doing by "helping" the Bosnian Cause is exactly what the Ottoman Empire did for 427 years. They are occupying a foreign nation against their will. The United States efforts in Bosnia are made in good intention but are needed on the home front as well.

Instead of funding the needs of other countries the United States should divert these funds into focus on domestic problems. There are many large problems in the United States that the billions of dollars going to Bosnia could help. For instance, Mississippi is the poorest state in the United States and the Appalachian Mountain region is home to some of the poorest people in the world. These people are living lives of subsistence. They need additional medical, educational and food aid to improve their standard of living. Instead of focusing on ending racial bigotry in Bosnia the United States should focus on the racial bigotry domestically.

Instances of rioting in Los Angeles, Cincinnati and other major cities stem from racial conflict. Compton, a suburb of Los Angeles experiences racially motivated disturbances regularly. A majority of black entertainers refuse to go to Cincinnati because of the wide spread racism and recent killing of a black teen by a white officer. Even in rural areas such as Jasper, Texas horrible hate crimes involving racism occur.

Not only are there white on black racial problems in rural East Texas, but also Jasper is home to one of the largest Black Panther groups in the south. This mixed with a very strong Ku Klux Klan chapter makes Jasper, a prime place to fund the stop of racial bigotry. If the United States cannot eliminate two hundred years of racism between their very shores; it seems highly unlikely that they will have very credible influence on a hatred that stretches centuries into history. The twenty thousand troops stationed in Bosnia could be protecting the borders of Texas, California, and Florida.

This would help to eradicate the largest drug importation problem in the world. Florida, in one day, imports more cocaine than Arizona imports fish products. Texas has the highest population of illegal immigrants in the country. California has a cocaine problem second only to Florida. There are many things these troops could be doing in the United States to better conditions there. There are many hopes for this region.

"Well, I would like to see a better ethnic tolerance and reconciliation. I would also like to see an understanding that, in order to enter Europe, you have to meet European standards. That's what's still missing here. There are many people here who are comfortable with not meeting those standards. Because they profit by not being in Europe.

They profit by the current instabilities. They profit by current ethnic tensions. They profit by dividing people, and being part of hard line nationalistic parties. Unfortunately, these are the minority, but the majority of people suffer for" (Klein 1). This quote is from S RSG Jacques Paul Klein. It is the response to the question, "What is your hope for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the immediate future?" As you can see he is very adamant about the changes that need to be made in Bosnia.

Unfortunately, the only way these hopes can become a reality is through the execution of one of the two following solutions. The first solution coincides with United States involvement in Bosnia. The United States needs to re-state what they want their role to be in the Balkan region. They then need to make their motives clear, defined, and specifically organized to each individual task. In this scenario a larger force, up to fifty thousand ground troops, needs to be deployed throughout the Balkan region.

"If the Serbian war machine is not stopped, the war can only spread to new areas and is likely to result in a confrontation of continental proportions" (Fogelquist 1). This quote from Alan Fogelquist is a testament to why the United States needs troops occupying Bosnia. A group of ground troops will keep peace and help rebuild cities until the proper government decisions are made. The secretary of state, secretary of defense, and the vice president should oversee the governmental decisions. Then, a team of economical experts needs to be employed to diagnose the problems that are keeping the economy from being totally resolved. When the goals stated earlier are attained it is time to leave.

No re-commitment needs to be made. During all of these drastic changes the United States should provide an aide package. This package should include financial and humanitarian aide, airlift, intelligence, and "diplomatic good offices". These mass funds should be used to rebuild cities and establish a bureaucratic civil service branch of the government as well. Under no circumstances should the United States hold out the prospect of long-term involvement.

At this point, when the United States withdraws from Bosnia, if a war should break out, the heads of state will have a very hard decision to make. What holds more value; their foreign policy and economy, or human life? The second solution coincides with the United States removing itself from the Balkan region. The United States must first make an immediate and complete withdrawal from the Balkans and allow nature and the nature of mankind to run its course.

They should withdrawal all troops, relive field commands, abandon the embassy, and make it clear to the Bosnian and American public that they are getting out completely. In reality the United States could have stayed out of this conflict all together. Even if the costs in loss of life surpassed that of Vietnam, it would have eventually solved itself. In history large scale battles over ethnicity are eventually lost in politics making people forget about the ethnic diversity and realize that sometimes the true enemy is in the government.

The same problem was faced in the Congo in the late eighteen hundreds. What began as disputes between rival tribes, eventually evolved into a battle against a repressive government. In the end the tribes united to overthrow a corrupt Belgium government. Although the United States feels obligated to help the Bosnian Cause, they may be worsening the situation with their involvement, yet there are solutions. The proper solution is a total withdrawal as soon as possible.

When troops are present and American interests are not, never does there exist a defined and equalitarian solution for the problem. "There cannot be a united and peaceful Bosnia. There can be a peaceful or united Bosnia but they cannot co-exist" (Beck 176). Unfortunately this is the fact of life in Bosnia. A unified and peaceful Bosnia is unattainable. That is the basis for my opinion on what the United States Involvement in Bosnia should be.

I feel that the only reason that the United States is involved in Bosnia is to protect their financial interests at home. Global unrest and war is known to disrupt the global economy and negatively impact Wall Street. In an effort for the rich to keep their wealth the United States has decided to play "big brother". Either foreign policy or human life will suffer in this situation.

It is up to the leaders of the United States, to decide which is more important. I hope the leaders of the United States will make the decision that they know is right. It is time to make a complete withdrawal from Bosnia and use the funds to help repair domestic problems.