FREE ESSAY ON BLOWBACK, AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

BLOWBACK, AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

BLOWBACK, AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
America prides itself on being the world's largest superpower, and the American public
rarely hears about wrongdoings made by the American government. On the occasional
occurrence when the media has delivered such controversial news, it is gone before the
public really has a chance to absorb all the information. American foreign policy is
often times possibly doing more harm than good to foreign nations and the way in which
certain matters are handled reflects on the American nation as a whole. In Chalmers
Johnson's book, BLOWBACK, he criticizes the American government for not taking full
responsibility for its actions, and ignoring major problems that we create.
One major criticism of American foreign policy is the way we handle certain events that
affect our relations with foreign nations. A fairly recent occurrence at Okinawa, an
island located at the southernmost tip of Japan, reflects a bad example of American
military personnel. In September of 1995, two marines, Pfc. Rodrico Harp and Pfc. Kendric
Ledet, along with Seamen Marcus Gill, raped a twelve-year-old girl at random. Apparently
this is not uncommon, and the punishments for crimes like these are often delayed and
lenient. High-ranking military officials seem to downplay the effects and seriousness of
these crimes if not condone them. Another major concern regarding this incident is the
amount of military bases in Japan, and their purpose. At the time of the rape, there were
42 American military bases on Okinawa. The cold war had been over for nearly ten years,
and relations were assumed peaceful. Are all of these bases necessary? The United States
government believes that American military presence in Okinawa is benefiting the Japanese
more than Americans. Other incidents involving military personnel and Japanese civilians
include, many auto accidents, drunk driving, hit and runs, and the use of chemical
weapons testing on neighboring islands. "Each mini-crisis like this is in itself a
mini-example of blowback."(BLOWBACK, p50) The way in which these events are handled
reflects upon the American Government and it's policies. This also affects the attitude
of the Japanese towards Americans. 
In recognition to the previous arguments that America needs to "shape up" its foreign
policies, I somewhat agree with Chalmers Johnson. I believe that we do not necessarily
need as many military bases on foreign soil, and I believe that we should take more
responsibility for our actions when negligence is to blame. Johnson persuaded me to agree
with him, when he discusses crimes such as rape, and hit and run accidents due to
drunkenness. I believe that our government should punish anyone who is convicted of rape,
military personnel or civilian, accordingly. I feel that the military should take more
action in policing its own people, and regulate substance induced criminal behavior. I
believe that it is in our nations best interest to secure peace with friendly countries
and gain respect from them not based on fear, but based on the fact that we are just and
dependable, as well as sensible. Our military should punish those responsible for crimes
on and off the bases, and we should stand behind our word. When a marine killed three
women who were walking on the sidewalk, with her car, the United States agreed to pay a
solatium to the family for their loss. The military paid a total of forty percent of what
they said they would, and made the grieving family sign a document giving up all claims
against the United States. This affects our relation with Japan since paying a solatium
is a Japanese custom and the government of Japan ended up paying the difference to the
family. This is not good foreign policy. (BLOWBACK, p45)
On the other hand, I agree with the current situation where neither Japanese courts nor
police have jurisdiction over our bases on their soil. I do feel that we are helping to
keep the Japanese safe with our presence in Okinawa and other areas. I have never
enlisted in the military so I do not feel that I can cast judgment towards military bases
and their procedures. I feel that we should govern our bases, while still upholding
American values and laws, however I do not feel that other governments should be excluded
from gaining information about particular procedures, since they should be carried out
justly. 
Our country is at risk of losing foreign peaceful relations with certain nations if we do
not change some of our procedures. We are at a time of need when allies are looked upon
for support against terrorism. We need to remain on good terms with our allies to prevent
these acts from happening again and to make sure that we are given support to punish
responsible parties. However I think that we have enough financial means to handle things
on our own, but having support from our allies only helps. This world revolves around
money. That's the bottom line. In the past, America has made some poor decisions
regarding foreign relations, but most of the time it is protecting our financial
securities. Certain things should be changed to upgrade our popularity status with
foreign nations, and to ensure that good moral values are incorporated with our
policies.