cant damage to American credibility (Kressel 123). Interventionism also jeopardizes U.S. vital interests in other ways. The most obvious hazard is to the lives of American soldiers sent into the conflict. Once troops have been deployed, it becomes a critical interest to ensure their security. If they are in danger or if troops have been taken hostage, the United States has a responsibility to protect them. It was for that reason that President Clinton declared March 31, 1994, as the date for withdrawal from Somalia and, at the same time, took what appeared to be the contradictory action of sending thousands of additional troops to Mogadishu (Snyder 24). To guarantee the security of the troops already there, auxiliary forces had to be deployed. Again, the intervention threatened the interests of the United States. Pointless interventions also waste the public's espousal for military operations. Failed missions produce tremendous cynicism about future operations, causing danger with future threats to national security. Support is vital to the success of the operation of the military. Lack of public support could endanger our ability to protect our interests. In reality, American third party intervention is by and large not a feasible solution to regional conflicts and should not be undertaken except in the atypical circumstances in which American national security is at stake. In most cases regional conflicts cannot be helped, and may well be intensified, by the intervention of outside parties. United States intervention can be especially counterproductive, since it often exaggerates smaller, less powerful countries' fears of America's hegemonic goals. The United States is not proficient to suppress regional conflicts, in which warring forces commonly rely on devices that are not easily met by America's high tech war-machine. Military intervention for reasons dissimilar to American security also forces the United States to welcome natural...
