Since the 90s, some radical organisations want to islamise societies. They reject the occidental world and the 11th September 2001, one of them called Al-Qaida declared the war to the US by diverting four airliners. Two of them destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, to fight at the same time the symbols of power of the US. This event, becoming one of the most famous attempt ever has been the launch of the war between two opposites cultures. This unexpected shock with a death toll of 2977 people plunged the occidental world in fear. What is the American foreign policy since 2001? First, we are going to explain in which this policy consists, then what are his consequences.
In 2003, American troops intervened in Iraq in order to thwart weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein without the International Community’s agreement. This is called “unilateralism”. In other words, it is a state’s policy which considers only his own interests. It is opposed to multilateralism which favours the international relationships and permits several countries to work together in order to achieve something or deal with a problem.
In 2001, American troops acted in Afghanistan further to the 09/11 terrorist attack. The American People touched in his own territory took this attack as a declaration of war and decided to fight Islamist terrorism. This intervention aimed at chasing away the Talibans from the power. But this intervention directed the United States to a unilateral policy and a “preventing war” was adopted by George W. Bush. This system permitted the American government to detain anyone suspected of terrorism without limit and without accusation thanks to the USA Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law which gave them that power. However, this new foreign policy has been the starting point of many protests.
This intervention in Iraq created an anti-interventionism movement in the United States and in the whole world and even among the Americans’ allies such as France. Many did not follow them. That’s why the United States ended up alone during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The same year, about 150 000 people demonstrated against the Iraq War in the streets of San Francisco. In 2005, the American public opinion seemed to disagree with the US policy in Iraq: an enquiry revealed that a majority of Americans disapproved the management of the situation in Iraq. More than 50% of the American population thought that George W. Bush has "deliberately deceived" the American opinion. 57 % of them considered that the Bush administration exaggerated the threat of weapons of mass destruction. As a matter of fact, 53 % of people asked judged that the conflict in Iraq was not worth it. However, 58 % considered that the American soldiers had to remain in Iraq to restore the order. The intervention in Iraq was a violation of the international laws and the charter of the United Nations.
For the Afghanistan war, the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez accused George W. Bush to act “as if he owned the world” and denounced the American “imperialism” and the fact that the war against terrorism permitted to American elites to do whatever they wanted - such as bombing and terrorizing Peoples - in the name of freedom. In addition, Afghan people seeing their country invaded and hit by drones showed their disapproval. They rebelled in March 2012, not bearing anymore the injustices undergone by an entire People considered as linked to terrorism. There had been a violation of the human rights in both war and each faction didn’t respect them. Indeed, in order to take the control of the afghan government, terrorists murdered Afghan policemen, took hostages and tried to put a stop to women education. On the other side, the coalition and the United States overused force and did unjustified arrests. They tortured prisoners in clandestine jails. Moreover, air strikes killed thousands of afghan civils. In 2008, the US bombardment of Azizabad killed 90 civils while a law against torture was legitimized by Bush since 2001. In 2012, an American soldier, Robert Bales, left his camp at 3 am and killed 17 Afghans. This type of events created difficult relationships between the US and the Afghan government. More than 20 000 civils had been killed in this conflict.
Finally, the new American foreign policy was the object of many protests. Since the attempts, the image of the United States went from "victims" to "executioners". However, their policy also allowed Oussama Ben Laden's tracking - leader of the extremist group Al-Qaida and in charge of the 11th September attacks - in 2011 in Pakistan. Moreover, terrorists were ejected from the Afghan government, but they continue to lead a guerrilla war. Nevertheless, it didn’t prevent anti-American feelings and behaviours to be developed.