Back in August 2012, President Barack Obama warned that any Syrian use of chemical weapons would force a U.S. response in the civil war. By April the next year, U.S. intelligence confirmed that President Bashar al‑Assad had indeed unleashed such weapons against the opposition. The promised “red line” quickly softened, and a year later America found itself bombing ISIS — the very group it had once threatened to fight — from the same skies it had warned the Syrian regime about. This topsy‑turvy track record stretches back over two centuries, and here are ten of the most eyebrow‑raising moments, counted down from ten to one.
10. US Embargo Against Cuba
Since 1960 the United States has kept a hard‑line trade embargo on Cuba — not a single legal cigar has ever crossed the 145‑kilometre (90‑mile) stretch to U.S. shores. The United Nations has condemned the blockade twenty times, calling it a breach of both the UN Charter and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, treaties the U.S. itself helped draft. Yet the embargo persists, despite clear evidence it chokes Cuban access to medicines and basic supplies. No other nation faces an embargo solely for human‑rights abuses or terrorism concerns; for instance, the U.S. enjoys roughly $20 billion in annual trade with communist‑ruled Vietnam.
Adding theatrical flair, the United States keeps an illegal military foothold on Cuban soil, justified by the 1903 Cuban‑American Treaty and a symbolic $4,000‑a‑year “rent” check that Havana refuses to cash. The infamous Guantanamo Bay naval base, perched on Cuban land, also houses an extrajudicial detention camp for so‑called “extraordinarily dangerous prisoners.”
9. The Monroe Doctrine and US Policy in Latin America
“We could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing [Latin American countries], or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power … as unfriendly toward the United States.” – The Monroe Doctrine, 1823.
While the doctrine was meant to keep European powers out of the newly independent nations of Latin America, it opened the door for the United States to waltz in as the self‑appointed guardian. The result? Four incursions into Panama to protect the canal, the botched Bay of Pigs invasion to topple Cuba’s government, and covert CIA collaborations with repressive regimes under Operation Condor. Even the 1842 annexation of Texas by President John Tyler, justified under the doctrine, helped spark the Mexican‑American War of 1846.
8. The Aftermath of the Spanish‑American War
Just before the Spanish‑American War kicked off on April 25, 1898, the Senate passed the Teller Amendment, promising that the United States would not retain permanent control over Cuba after the conflict. The promise was short‑lived. In 1901 the Platt Amendment slipped in as a rider to an Army appropriations bill, effectively turning the promise upside‑down. It gave the U.S. a veto over Cuban domestic and foreign policy and paved the way for the Guantanamo Bay naval base.
The Platt provisions lingered for more than three decades, finally being stripped away by the 1934 Treaty of Relations — except for the right to keep the naval base, which remains to this day.
7. US Involvement in the Soviet War in Afghanistan
“You are creating a Frankenstein.” – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto warned President George H.W. Bush about the American‑backed Mujahideen. From 1979 to 1989, the CIA’s covert Operation Cyclone funneled money, weapons, and training to Afghan rebels via Pakistan’s ISI. The United States deliberately favored foreign Islamic militants — Egyptians, Syrians, and others — over native Afghans, believing they were the most reliable anti‑communist force.
Among the beneficiaries was a young Osama bin Laden, who joined the fight from Saudi Arabia. Critics argue that this massive support sowed the seeds of the terrorist networks that later plagued the world. Senator Orrin Hatch later defended the operation as “worth it” for Cold War victory, even as the United States now blames other nations for fueling terrorism. After bin Laden’s 2011 death, retaliatory attacks were launched at Pakistan, the very country that had unintentionally hosted the “monster.”
6. US Nuclear Proliferation Policy
In recent decades the United States has been the loudest voice demanding that Iran halt its “illegal” nuclear ambitions, sponsoring UN sanctions after Tehran refused adequate IAEA oversight. Yet the United States turns a blind eye to Israel’s own nuclear arsenal — a stockpile that includes everything from “suitcase nukes” to ICBMs, concealed under a policy of “nuclear ambiguity.” Israel even attempted to sell nuclear technology to apartheid‑era South Africa.
Declassified documents reveal that the United States knew about Israel’s nuclear program as early as the late 1960s but took no action to curb it, highlighting a striking double‑standard in America’s non‑proliferation rhetoric.
5. US Annexation of Hawaii
In 1893 a cadre of sugar and pineapple magnates, backed by American troops, overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani, imprisoning her and seizing millions of acres. They formed a “Provisional Government” and begged President Benjamin Harrison for annexation. When anti‑imperialist President Grover Cleveland took office, he ordered a probe – the Blount Report – which exposed U.S. Ambassador John L. Stevens as a key conspirator and documented the illegal use of Marines.
Congress brushed the findings aside with the Morgan Report (1894), led by John Tyler Morgan, a former Confederate general and KKK Grand Dragon, which claimed the coup never happened and justified the provisional government as protecting U.S. interests. Despite the controversy, President William McKinley annexed the islands anyway. It wasn’t until 1993 that the United States formally apologized for its role in the overthrow.
4. US Policy in the Philippines
After the Spanish‑American War, the United States found itself the new ruler of the Philippines. President William McKinley’s commission sent a patronizing communiqué to Filipinos, promising “peace, happiness, and rightful freedom.” In reality, the report split the population into “civilized” and “uncivilized” categories, setting the stage for selective rights.
The Moros, a Muslim minority, resisted American occupation. In a brutal episode, U.S. forces drove women and children into the crater of a volcano and then bombarded the makeshift settlement, killing roughly 800 people. Theodore Roosevelt trumpeted the action as a “brilliant feat of arms,” and the Fourth Cavalry still bears a coat of arms commemorating the massacre. Mark Twain condemned the atrocity, noting that the uniformed assassins had dishonored the American flag.
3. The Iran‑Contra Affair
During the 1980s, the Reagan administration faced a dilemma: the Boland Amendment barred direct U.S. aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, yet Reagan adored the rebels, calling them the “moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers.” The solution? A covert arms‑for‑hostages swap. In 1985, the United States sold over 1,500 missiles to Iran (despite an embargo) in exchange for the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. The trade back‑fired – only three hostages were freed, then replaced by three more.
Even more scandalous, roughly 60 % of the money Iran paid vanished into the pockets of the Contras. An Independent Counsel investigation led to 14 officials being charged, though half escaped conviction on technicalities and presidential pardons from George H.W. Bush. Reagan’s popularity survived the storm, leaving him with the highest post‑war approval rating since FDR.
2. US Declarations of War Since 1945
The United States helped draft the United Nations Charter, which bars members from using force except in self‑defense or with Security Council authorization. Yet, aside from the Korean War (1950‑53) and the First Gulf War (1990‑91), every U.S.-led conflict since 1945 has skirted, or outright violated, that rule. Former UN Secretary‑General Kofi Annan called the 2003 Iraq invasion illegal, and the Vietnam War began on dubious pretenses. Other incursions – Panama (1989) and Grenada (1983) – drew near‑universal condemnation.
1. The Coup Against Ngo Dinh Diem
In the early 1950s, the United States propped up Ngo Dinh Diem as South Vietnam’s first president to counter Communism. His authoritarian, Catholic‑leaning regime soon sparked widespread dissent, culminating in Buddhist monks self‑immolating in protest. By the early 1960s, the United States, fearing Diem’s weakness, began backing a coup. President John F. Kennedy gave the green light, and the CIA helped orchestrate the overthrow that ended with Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu being assassinated on November 2, 1963.
In a 1963 interview, CBS anchor Walter Cronkite asked Kennedy if the United States could win the Vietnam War. Kennedy replied that victory required “changes in policy and perhaps with personnel,” hinting at the imminent removal of Diem. The United States thus helped topple the very leader it had installed less than a decade earlier.
From the Cuban embargo to covert arms swaps, from annexations to illegal wars, the United States’ foreign‑policy playbook reads like a roller‑coaster of contradictions. One thing’s clear: history loves to remind us that America’s most consistent trait is its inconsistency.