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Balancing the books in regards U.S. Foreign Policy
By Robert Price
There are numerous reports and articles printed over the years that hit out at the United States (U.S.) for its possession of a heavy handed foreign policy. Indeed, when reading some articles spread over many years one could easily be misled into believing that the U.S. only involves itself when an oil supply is threatened. Perhaps I just felt that it was time to remind U.S. critics of a very significant foreign policy followed by U.S. presidents. One in particular, who over the past fifteen years genuinely helped towards the creation of a peace process in a country that had endured more than thirty years of internal turmoil, and best of all the U.S. effort had nothing to do with oil. Am I serious that the United States actually helped create a stable environment without oil as a key driver? Oh yea of little faith, I am very serious. A very popular ambassador during the nineties and early 21st century was President Bill Clinton, who repeatedly made determined efforts to help win the peace in Northern Ireland. His visits to Belfast together with the talks that he prompted with major opposing factions will always be remembered as a significant component in what history will show as a point when a country began to turn its back on violence. In brief –
President Clinton visited in 1995, 1998 and 2000. To a people immersed in a violent conflict the arrival of President Clinton in 1995 appeared to stimulate a hope they had thought lost forever. With a statesmanlike demeanour and deliberate non-partisan stance he was also found to be both approachable and capable of offering constructive ideas to resolve differences, something not lost on the people he met.
Clinton’s shrewd foreign policy judgement in relation to Northern Ireland was arguably visible from his earlier decision to appointment George Mitchell as Special Envoy to the region in 1995.
Mitchell was responsible for leading a commission that established the principles on non-violence followed by all factions. He subsequently chaired the all party peace negotiations that concluded with the Belfast Peace Agreement. This significant arrangement also known as the “Good Friday Agreement” because it was signed on Good Friday 1998, was a landmark achievement that Mitchell won through his personal prowess as a negotiator. This article is not intended to provide comprehensive details of the events surrounding the Clinton administration or its help in resolving the troubles in Northern Ireland. It is simply given as a reminder that U.S. foreign policy should not automatically be categorised as oil driven, uncompassionate or purely self motivated. Hopefully this short article will provide a modicum of balance to any future U.S. foreign policy criticisms, especially as it’s written by a South African.
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Every president of the United States has tried to claim an Irish heritage and many have visited the island. John Kennedy was probably the most charismatic power for good but even he fought shy of trying to curtail the brutal power that the terrorists exercised over the population at large. While Bill Clinton was swanning around the country he was in grave danger of re-igniting the strife that had been calmed by the domestic arrangements made in tri-partite talks between the seriously involved factions. The vast majority of the money that powered the Irish Republican terrorist organisations came from USA - it was collected in Irish clubs and bars from people who only knew the words to the rebel songs and believed that King Billy was alive and well and still evicting Irish tenants. It was fortunate for Northern Ireland that the terror attacks were fairly well limited to particular areas of Belfast and Derry. What was unfortunate for Northern Ireland was that the population did not want to be coerced into a communist republic and that it had insisted upon the protection of the existing government and its troops. The training schools run by the USA, Libya and the PLO together with the fund raising and 'contributions' from other communist controlled countries ensured that the terrorists would be well armed and trained in methods of civil suppression. Certainly the attempted self determination by democratic ballot in Northern Ireland was sufficient excuse for murder, mayhem and the cruelest kind of 'law' enforcement and for the USA to continue supplying arms and ammunition.
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