How Did Eugene V. Dubs Justify His Support For American Involvement

Danielle Mills

October 5, 2017

1301-2305 Learning Community

Professor Sinclair & Ahad Hayaud-Din

American Involvement and Foreign Policy: Mobilized by Social and Political Power

1,200 Words and 3 Sources

Ideological, social, and economical factors transformed the United States from a neutral power to a foreign aggressor during WWI and the Iraqi War. WWI was known as the most lethal crusade in history, demanding tens of millions of fatalities on all fronts. During WWI, President Woodrow Wilson justified his support for American involvement, by giving a speech in 1917 in response to the Germans resuming unrestricted submarine warfare. German U-boats were destroying merchant ships and ocean liners yet again, like

Dubs, at a mass rally of railroad workers in Canton, Ohio on June 16, 1918. He shared his opinion that wars were always decided and declared by the master class, while the subject or working class was always the one to suffer with the circumstances and consequences of political rivalries. The union and socialist leader urged resistance against the military draft, because he felt the war was not declared by the people. The power should lie with the people who make the supreme sacrifice for worldly causes. Debs argued that the people should have a voice and choose the right for themselves to have peace, or surrender their body to bloodshed. Debs was taken into custody and penalized to ten years of imprisonment for speaking out. He was accused and found guilty of ten charges of sedition on September 12, 1918, by a unanimous court decision with no witnesses, for his words against the draft and the Wilson administration. Debs delivered a classic speech at his sentence hearing on September 14, 1918, that later became one of his best-recollected statements of all-time. Additionally, he was disenfranchised for the remainder of his life, however it did not stop him from becoming the founder of the (IWW) Industry Workers of the World and a dominant voice in the socialist

invasion of Iraq. Saddam Hussein’s history of aggression was like that of Germany’s during WWI. Fear was evoked in the public when the George W. Bush administration repeatedly implied a link between the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Iraq. According to Nations and Nationalism, “It appears the war against Iraq received such varied support because the initial definitions of national identities endorsed the justifications for the war to different degrees” (Becker). The American public’s backing for the war and sense of nationalism portrayed a significant role in the Iraqi War. Like the Germans using unrestricted warfare, Iraq was found in violation of the 1991 cease-fire. Another justification was that the Iraqi government was unlawfully using weapons and repressing its people. The ideological factor in this war was the spread of democracy and western customs. According to DOMES: Digest of Middle East Studies, “The Arab Spring is a revolutionary movement for democracy that swept across the Arab Middle East in 2010” (Ibrahim). General Tommy Franks gave seven direct objectives for the invasion. His sixth cause was to deliver humanitarian support to the displaced Iraqi citizens. General Franks seventh objective was to secure, for the Iraqis, the oil fields and resources and create conditions for transitioning Iraq into a representative