| Final-Fan said: We decided that the American public wanted to stop genocide even if it didn't directly affect us, and did so. Without, if I recall correctly, losing one American life in combat. I guarantee that interventions like that make the world respect the USA more, and therefore help our diplomatic efforts in things that DO affect us. And that's ignoring potential indirect effects of such conflicts on the world at large and therefore the US. Anyway, by "smart" I meant "effective". |
If what we wanted to stop was genocide, then our goals were wrong from the beginning. There was no genocide in Kosovo. There may have been a brutal civil war with atrocities committed by both sides, but it was not a genocide. I find it odd that the KLA was originally considered a terrorist group, or a group that committed terrorist attacks (as certain nations deemed them), but was later trained by the US. We chose to support a group that systematically killed ethnic Serbs and Roma. It is unfortunate that the US once again interjected itself into a civil war that it had no interest in.
I also think you overestimate how much the world respected us for that intervention. There were nations other than Russia and China opposed to our actions. I believe the Italians and Greeks were also staunchly opposed to it. It was not America the beneficent coming to save the day. No, it was America the meddlesome interjecting its will on those who did not seek it.
