A Long Way Gone: Sierra Leone Civil War

The question of whether or not to get involved in foreign conflicts is one of the most difficult that American leaders face. I recently read the book A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah, a story about a child caught in the middle of the Sierra Leone civil war. It is tempting to think that, with our overwhelming military strength, we can use force to settle many disputes. But getting involved is rarely as easy as it looks. Some say we should get involved at the very beginning of war to prevent child soldiers and civilian lives lost. Others say that we shouldn't get involved at all.

First, intervention results in nearly constant warfare. This is also shows in the united states recent history. According to infoplease, ¨since World War II the U.S. has been involved in 14 major conflicts, including the ¨Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq War. Since 1950-67 years ago-we’ve spent 38 years in a state of warfare¨ (Hamilton). In 67 years, the US has only 29 years of peace. And none of these wars were fought in defense of our soil. Most, if not all, of these wars were fought as a result of our interventionist Ideas. (Hamilton) Second, If the United States have no involvement with what affairs are happening in other countries, why should the united states put troops in harm's way? The U.S. is already in tons of debt and a huge reason for this is military spending. If the United states keep getting involved in foreign conflicts it will just cost of the military and put the US in even more debt then it already is. Another Reason The U.S. shouldn't get involved in foreign conflicts is that it will put our country in danger.

On the other side people say that we should get involved in foreign conflicts. People say we should at least intervene in some way because it’s not only the most moral thing to do, but later down the road, the citizens of the United States will benefit with peace when the war ends. In addition, it will build up future political and economic relations with countries. On the other hand, being a bystander and ¨letting the war play out is like encouraging the fighting.¨(The Enterprisepub) The second reason the US should get involved in foreign wars is if we don’t help or understand what the other countries are going through, then we may make the same mistake, and if we don’t help with other countries, then we might not become our allies when we are in a war with another country. On the other side people say that we should get involved in foreign conflicts People say we should at least intervene in some way because It’s not only a moral thing to do, but in the long run, the citizens of the United States will benefit from peace once the war ends.

Personally I believe that we are a dying country and us getting involved will just make the national debt even more which is already enough of an issue on its own so spending money on something that we don’t even need to do which just make things even worse than they need to be. We also have other things we need to deal with. Such as space that is making connections even harder to get and the U.S. runs on internet so shouldn’t we be working on that problem more than things that don’t even have to deal with us. But if they start attacking us then that is a reason to get involved, but unless it deals with the united states I don’t think that it is a good idea.

In conclusion there are positives and negatives on weather or not we Should intervene in foreign affairs on one hand we should because it's the moral thing to do and people would benefit from peace, intervening in foreign affairs is a sure way to ensure our own safety as well as the safety of other nations. But on the other side if we don't intervene in foreign affairs it would save money,

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