Do we even need to replace Nikki Haley? Most of the time we can't help but act alone. Maybe the skeptic in me has been wrong all along. Perhaps America is exceptionalonly in all the wrong ways.
Last week Nikki Haley resigned as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She claimed to be leaving of her own accord and even heaped effusive praise on her boss, President Donald Trump. As always, the mainstream media made a circus of the whole affair, replete with gossip about internal dissent and speculation over her possible 2020 presidential runwhich she vehemently denied. Of course, attention quickly turned to predictions about who, exactly, will succeed her.
Reading the stories and watching the coverage, this author at least was left pondering an altogether different question than the mainstream media talking heads. Whether Haley was disgruntled within the administration, whether shell make a run in 2020, or who might replace her is irrelevant. What I want to know is: why does the U.S. even maintain the charade of sending an ambassador to the UN? After all, decades worth of Washington policy decisions have demonstrated two salient truths: 1) the U.S. government, no matter who is president, shows little to no respect for international norms as such; and 2) Washington elites seem certain that the U.S. is the exception to most every global rule or agreement anyway.
Haley, we must remember, was an unabashed neoconservative who supported every catastrophic American intervention over the last 13 years. To listen to her rhetoric on the floor of the UN, you would think she was ready to support another regime changethis time in Iran. No doubt, whoever Trump appointsgiven the presidents recent track record of anointing the likes of Mike Pompeo and John Boltonwill be another unreconstructed hawk bent on using American power like a cudgel to get its way in the tribunal. Given that uncomfortable fact, wouldnt the U.S. be better off just dropping the position of UN ambassador altogether?
There are many international compacts that Washington appears to want no part of. Even liberal President Bill Clinton wouldnt sign on to the international ban on landmines after the military convinced him the nation needed those brutal devices. Even more liberal President Barack Obama backed down on his own promise to join the other 161 countries poised to sign it during his tenure.
More recently, Trump pulled the United States out of the seven-nation Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was designed to abort the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Once again, the U.S. struck out alone. The other signeesGermany, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Iranare all staying in the deal and have vowed to maintain its integrity. We can debate whether this was or was not the right call by Trump, but it sure follows a patternour way or the highway.
Then theres the finer points of U.S. military policy. Were exceptionaland largely alonehere too. The U.S. has long been, but wont be for long, the only power with the capacity and willingness to regularly violate international airspace with drones to conduct targeted killings of suspected terrorists (and often innocent bystanders). Here again, U.S. security is seen as paramount, and Washington apparently takes for granted that America is the exception to rules and behavior it would likely never accept from other countries.
Take foreign bases for example. When Russia attempts to secure its lone naval base on Syrias coast, we consider it an act of international aggression. Yet, the United States, by most counts, has 800 such bases worldwidelikely more than all other countries on the planet combined.
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Then there is Washingtons blank check to Israel, providing arms and unqualified support despite its detrimental effect on relations with the UN as a whole and Muslims as a people. Thats because, ultimately, U.S. actions demonstrate a willingness to ignore the UN when global opinion doesnt suit Washingtons goals. Thats why no one flinched when UN General Secretary Kofi Annan declared the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq to be un-sanctioned, illegal, and a violation of the UN charter.
Ever since I was a naive 17-year-old cadet at West Pointwhen I watched the Twin Towers fall in my home city and buried several family friendsAmericans have been asking: why do they hate us? Thats a complicated question, worthy of intense study, but this much is certain: few Americans are willing to look in the mirror and face the uncomfortable truth that U.S. policies just might play a role. Year after year, in survey after survey, credible international polls show that the most of the world sees the United States as the greatest threat to global peace. Not China, Russia, Iran, or even North Korea, but the U.S. of A. Now, whether America is the greatest threat or not, the polls suggest people in other countries are at least willing to say so.
Make no mistake: I love this country. Im still proud of my service in its Army. Ive fought in two of its wars. Still, is it such a stretch to ask whether a bit more humility and team play might better endear the U.S. to the world we arelike it or nota part of?
Of course none of this is a Trump problem. Its not about political factions. Ive found much to admire and much to abhor in the policies of the three commanders-in-chief Ive dutifully served. And, maybe you, the reader, agree with each instance of U.S. contravention of global norms outlined above. Thats fine. But then can we at least end the farce of sending an ambassador to the UN? Its a club we obviously dont really want to be a part of.
Danny Sjursen is a U.S. Army officer and a regular contributor to The American Conservative. He served combat tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at his alma mater, West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet. His views are his own.