Limits on U.S. Military Involvement in Humanitarian Crises essays

Limits on U.S. Military Involvement in Humanitarian Crises essays The primary purpose of setting up armed forces of any country is to ensure the stability of the nation in times of war. Further to this mission is to defend the country against foreign or domestic (with regulations) aggression. Hence, the military is there to conduct offensive and defensive combat operations as mandated by the chain of command. The United States military establishment especially has a long tradition of war fighting capabilities and history, but in some areas it has been called upon to handle humanitarian missions such as peacekeeping, relief operations, infrastructure buildup and related stability operations. The 1990s was the first decade in nearly half a century in which the U.S. military was deployed on missions that involved the reconstruction of governments, infrastructure, and economies after quelling the chaos of internecine conflicts. (Serafino, 2006) Majority of humanitarian missions involve peacekeeping duties and during a humanitarian intervention, the mi litarys mission is expected to derive from the U.S. national security strategy.1 The objective could be to support U.S. interests on behalf of allies, public concern, to support democracy, etc. These objectives are often different from those of the humanitarian action organizations involved, especially those of NGOs and IGOs. (Hinson, 1998) The involvement of the U.S. military in whatever humanitarian missions is still dependent on the National Command Authority. Although the missions are altruistic and serves a more positive output rather than the natural warfighting premise, humanitarian missions taxed the capability of the military from what their actual missions are. As Serafino reports (2006): For well over a decade, some Members of Congress expressed reservations about U.S. military involvement in peacekeeping operations. The Bush Administration initially opposed such missions and took steps to reduce the commitment o...