Mark Paley

Ms.Gardner

English 10 Honors 4th Period

10 November 2016

Letter to the President

Dear President of the United States,

I understand that at this time there are many issues that face our country,

there are many pressing issues that require immediate solutions in order to

maintain peace between nations. At this moment I believe that an issue that you

must address soon is the problem of America's involvement in foreign conflicts;

Americas involvement in foreign conflicts is a pressing issue that faces our

country.

America requires a stable policy that states what kinds of conflicts will

require us to take action and help other countries with their issues. At this moment,

America has troops deployed trying to solve other countries problems for them

while others begin to find crisis of their own. America cannot physically stop all

conflict in the world with our limited resources and scattered army. According to

TIME, last year the United States had over forty-five thousand troops deployed in
Japan, thirty-seven thousand in Germany, twenty-seven thousand in South Korea

and almost ten thousand in Afghanistan. This year numbers are even higher with

threats in the middle east.

If the United States continues to deploy troops as they currently are, what

are we to do if some countries decide to start a conflict with us? With troops

scattered around the world, we could see the fall of a civilization similar to what

happened with the Roman Empire. Our armies spread too thin across land leaving

us vulnerable to aggression from foreign countries. I understand the argument for

opposing side. America should be able to pick and choose which conflicts it

chooses to be involved with, however this may not always be an option. If America

decides to step into conflicts between countries, while we may be helping one side,

the opposing side will see America as an enemy, and we will be making just as

many allies as we will enemies. Our other option in this case is to become the

world's policemen and solve every issue that occurs throughout the world; however

this is impossible with limited manpower.

America needs a certain list of criteria that must be met in order for us to

find an appropriate course of action to take. Alongside this, we should have a

certain set of rules that immediately disqualify some nations from help. Such as if a

country has more than a certain number of countries that it is opposing, America
should avoid all problems pertaining to issues like this to avoid making too many

enemies.

America as a country most certainly has the capability to be a major help to

all countries but not necessarily be a direct action. We can try to help from a

diplomatic view instead of military action. Concerning the conflicts in the Middle

East, America should have involvement including military action to stop Middle

Eastern terrorist organizations. America, however, should have help from much

more UN and NATO countries. America supplies lots of money to Saudi Arabia

which they use to purchase weapons to fight their wars. Many of these weapons

end up in the hands of the enemy. If America wishes to have involvement in this

conflict, it should be done directly as to avoid repercussions by dealing arms.

This topic is controversial for many reasons, and a solution is very hard to

come by as all situations that are encountered by America are different with

complex solutions. Sometimes our country believes that they have the solution to

another country's problem but that country may disagree with the policies America

attempts to set upon them.

This issue is encountered daily and American ambassadors need to know

how to handle controversy and conflict. America needs stable policies to avoid

conflict with other countries based on these ideas. That is what makes this issue so
pressing, it is unbelievable controversial and requires attention immediately before

more tension is built. Every day that America dives deeper into other countries

battles, we dig ourselves into a hole in which we may not eventually be able to get

out. Someday soon we will find ourselves in controversy where we may have no

solution because we refused to work on policies now and decided to continue

involving ourselves with the rest of the world's problems. If America wishes not to

crumble under our own weight of conflicts, we must lighten the load by thinning

which conflicts we wish to involve ourselves with. Pick the battles we know will

not create powerful enemies. Attempt to find issues where we can gain a powerful

ally and a weaker enemy if an enemy must be gained.

(Word Count 777)