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The U.S. policy has been to actively pursue diplomatic means to ensure freedom throughout the world, thus has been the driving force behind many of the votes within the U.N. Security Council, and has been the target of many forms of propaganda from those opposed to U.S. Policy, propoganda designed to make the U.N. look like a tool of the U.S. government.
In any case, the actions the U.S. has participated in have ranged from the Korean War, a conflict defined by the 28th parallel in between the North and South Korean borders, to the Intercession in Iraq, the enforcement of the No-Fly Zone which split the country of Iraq into thirds (as far as military air traffic is concerned).
Police Actions usually deal with a country which does not honor treaty or border terms and thus the rest of the world is faced with watching a conflict that will not be resolved by the fighting parties, or faced with intervention. Since the U.S. and the former Soviet Union have been the two largest "Super-Powers", it has fallen on them to make the major efforts in policing smaller countries. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the break-up of the former Soviet Union, the Soviets had primarily been sponsors of communist inspired revolutionaries who fostered many of the conflicts for which police action was called for. This was not always the case, as both Cuba and China have fostered their own brand of revolutionary actions.
It is clear though that some actions can be taken without huge losses of life and can result in improvements for the country which needs the help.
With "The Technicals" roaming the streets, the police action sponsored by the U.N., and manned in force by U.S. troops on the ground and in the air, this activity created a formula for disaster. The U.S. forces were there to ensure food and other relief supplies got to the needy, rather than into the coffers of the technicals, thus increasing their power over the average person on the street, and thus building the power base of the so leaders of the "technicals". With a Coalition forces command center in charge of air assets, it wouldn't be long before the disaster would occur. And it did, some troops on the ground getting massacred while air units were not mobilized to reinforce them. Within three months the majority of U.S. forces had withdrawn, and by six months most of the U.N. troops had left.
Due to U.N. ineffectiveness in such places as Magadushu and Bosnia (just to name a few), U.N. participatory countries are beginning to rethink their roles in the U.N., if not indeed the role of the U.N. itself. On the anniversary 1995 anniversary celebration, it was clear that the UN political force is strong but nations willingness to contribute grows weaker. U.S. press carried a large number of negative stories about the U.N., fueling the fire to either abolish or totally rewrite the UN charter. Interestingly, few of the calls in the press were echoed by member nations representatives at the anniversary celebrations, and it was clear that there is a marked division between U.S. (and to a lesser degree world press) and the member governments of the U.N. Some believe the unprecendented press outpouring may be a direct attack on the conservative U.S. Congress, making a political hay as the U.S. Presidentail Campaign begins.
Thus while there is a high degree of concern about U.S. military participation in police actions, the political situation may or may not make this an issue for election.
It is clear however, that the U.S., as the major military force in the world, still remains the only power in the world logistically capable of rapid response and major transport necessary to conduct major police actions, and will continue to be called upon again and again to buttress the U.N.'s resolve, providing police actions in any part of the world.