by John Little

Created on: March 14, 2009

from my upcoming book, "American Size Myths,

MYTH #8 AMERICA IS THE WORLD'S POLICEMAN

(we will defend all nations against the scourge of terrorists and bullies anywhere)

At the end of WWII most of Europe and parts of the Middle East and North Africa lay in ruin. The economies of these countries were decimated. Many of their factories are completely leveled and their infrastructure is all but nonexistent. Their military was in shambles and they cannot possibly adequately defend their own borders. To compound their problems, the Soviet Union, though equally devastated, manipulates the national governments of Eastern Europe, turning most of them into puppet regimes controlled by Moscow. As a counter measure against this potentially new adversary, the US

builds several military bases throughout Europe
as a precaution against any Soviet invasion.

After WWII and during the 1950s and 1960s, Americans were told that if we didn't step up to defend freedom loving nations around the world, Communism would sweep the entire planet and put everyone, including ourselves, under the boot of their repression. We were told that no other country in the world could possibly stand up to the Soviet juggernaut.

At the same time, we were constantly shown news reels of US humanitarian aid going to the poor and destitute around the world. We were not only the world's benevolent policeman, but their guardian angel as well. The US alone and all by itself provided the rest of the world with the food they need, the shelter they sought, and the freedom from Communism they all wanted. If it wasn't for the kindness and generosity of the US, the world would have long ago succumbed to the horrors of Soviet domination and repression. We were told that the anti-American fervor that would sometimes crop up as a result of US intervention was nothing more than the Communist elements that existed in that country trying to influence local populations with their evil lies of propaganda and spin. They most certainly didn't reflect the opinion of the vast majority in these countries who actually loved America, its freedoms, and everything it stood for.

On April 4, 1954, President Eisenhower gave a speech that was to define US
foreign policy for the next four decades. Known as the Domino Theory, President Eisenhower told the nation about the strategic and important role Vietnam played on the world's stage. The area, then known as Indochina, a French colony that had been taken over by the Japanese during WWII, had

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