Why Does the United States Continue to Engage in Endless Wars?
Open Access
Author:
Nguyen, David
Area of Honors:
Political Science
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Roseanne Mc Manus, Thesis Supervisor Gretchen G Casper, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
War Vietnam Afghanistan United States Congress Executive President Pentagon Papers
Abstract:
The United States have been directly involved in two prolonged wars in the past century where it ultimately withdrew its troops and the sides which it supported were swiftly defeated. In released documents of these two wars, the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan War, it has been revealed that the United States had prior knowledge that defeat was assured long before they withdrew. This begs the question: why would the United States bear this burden of remaining in these prolonged wars where it has little hope of victory? This paper will be analyzing the effectiveness of Congress in ending such wars and the influence that reputation may have upon the United States remaining in prolonged wars. It will explore the power of the Executive in order to prolong involvement in such wars and potential incentives to do so.
