Military adventurism has long appealed to western politicians \u2013 even those who say they will not meddle in others\u2019 affairs<\/p>\n
Joe Biden declares<\/a> an end to \u201can era of major military operations to remake other countries\u201d. A president\u2019s job, he says, is to protect and defend the \u201cfundamental national security interest of the United States of America\u201d. That does not include trying to construct new nations in foreign states.<\/p>\n Quite so. But Biden isn\u2019t the first president to make such claims. Each of his recent predecessors won power as non-interventionists, but tried to hold on to it by waging war. Bill Clinton said America\u2019s mission abroad was \u201cnot about fighting a war\u201d, it was about bringing people to the peace table. He ended up bombing Iraq and Yugoslavia. At first, George Bush agreed with Clinton\u2019s sentiment. On coming to office, Bush\u2019s aide, Condoleezza Rice, emphasised his opposition to foreign adventures. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to have the 82nd Airborne escorting kids to kindergarten,\u201d she told<\/a> the media. Yet the Bush doctrine had soon proclaimed<\/a> an American crusade for \u201cthe expansion of freedom in all the world \u2026 with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny\u201d. <\/p>\n