List of America’s Overseas Wars and Invasions (1+ per year between 1798-1993)

Addenda to and commentary on Ellen C. Collier’s “Instances of use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798-1993”

Gordon C. Thomasson, Ph.D. © 2001

The following is a collation of three sources showing how American troops, without invitation and with the exception of our Congressionally declared wars, have invaded foreign territory at least once a year since 1798.

The 1993 Congressional Research Service/Naval History list that serves as a foundation for my collation begs, of course, to be updated through 2002, and there is a crying need for a similar catalog of U.S. invasions of ALL Native American lands (in other words, the entire country-if we include Hawaii) throughout our history.

The re-edited Collier text which follows has been collated with and is an often word-for-word duplication of the insertion by Senator Everet Dirksen (R-Ill., known in his day as “Mr. Republican”), in the Congressional Record-Senate Vol. 115, No. 103 (Monday, June 23, 1969): S6954-S6959, which includes “Use of U.S. Armed Forces in Foreign Countries In Instances of use of U.S. Armed Forces Abroad. 1798-1945”. Dirksen’s remarks were in support of any American president’s supposed general power to wage war without congressional approval based on prior precedent (a very strange position for a supposedly constitutional conservative supporter of states’ rights, given the explicit intent of the “Founding Fathers”, but perhaps comparable to the five Supreme Court justices’s vote to prohibit Florida’s legally mandated ballot recount in the 2000 presidential election). Dirksen’s remarks in particular were in support of America’s war in Vietnam. I here compare those two sources and have noted and re-inserted items in the Dirksen list which are missing in Collier, as well as made corrections to Collier (e.g.: “Mar[q]uesas” replaces “Marguesas” in 1813-1814).

 

 

 

 

 

An additional uncredited or missing source for the Collier and Dirksen texts is: One Hundred Eighty Landings of United States Marines, 1800-1934 , Capt. Harry Allanson Ellsworth, USMC (Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1974). This is an often unintentionally damning before-the-fact commentary (written in 1934) on many of the Dirksen/Collier listings, and a chilling “the Corps can do no wrong” minded report, in which the destruction of villages and peoples is described without the slightest reflection that the lands invaded and the killings often took place without the Marines/Navy having the slightest idea whether those killed were guilty of anything, or even having the abilities (languages, etc.), essential to make such determinations. (e.g.: Ellsworth, page 7, 2nd full paragraph. In fact, here the Marines/Navy were, if anything, cynically used by the Americo-Liberians to strengthen control over local peoples the “colonists” and the white American/anti-black U.S. “American Colonization Society” were enslaving.) Moreover, while the U.S. claims to have a legal system which only punishes the guilty individual, and not a “criminal’s” relatives, in most 19th century encounters found here whole villages and peoples are dispossessed and killed, often with little or no effort to discover the actual perpetrator. Do others, then, have the right to apply collective guilt and collective punishment to us? Also, non-White peoples who dealt with American miscreants according to their own customary law were punished as if they were the criminals. Our country would never permit such outside interference with the administration of our laws, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
In the anonymous preface to the 1974 reprinting of Ellsworth’s One Hundred Eighty Landings …  four basic kinds of landings (or invasions) are recognized: 1) political intervention; 2) punitive actions; 3) protection of diplomatic mission, nationals, and their property; and 4) humanitarian. Sub-categories of these are easy to generate through a scan of Ellsworth and minimal awareness of the intended and actual short- and long-term outcomes of sending in the marines (aka “Why do they hate us?”).
1) Political interventions can be to support or influence the policies of an existing government; to encourage, discourage, or break an alliance; to overthrow the government, or to influence and support the replacement of a government by internal forces with one preferred by the U.S.
2) Punitive actions can be against peoples with or without a military of their own, or even a state. All too often these reprisals worked on a theory of collective guilt and collective punishment which the U.S. rejects internally: if one “native” on an island murdered an American, it was considered fair to wipe out entire villages on the assumption that all would know who committed the crime, and simply are too evil to turn the perpetrator over to American justice. Genocidal atrocities often result. Moreover, these sorts of raids often occur in repudiation of another people’s right to govern themselves, or to punish crimes (as we or they define them) committed by strangers within their territory. This reached an obscene peak when Chinese courts could not even try a European of an American if their police witnessed the foreigner committing first degree murder. Woe to the society who asserted the right to govern their “betters.” Another aspect of this is the “police” or law enforcement function where we often claimed the right to search and arrest or kill criminals in disregard of borders. Beyond that, attacking forts, sinking naval vessels and other behaviors have been rationalized without blinking with a double standard that would never accept the same rules being applied to us.
3) Protection can range from stationing a symbolic guard at an embassy to garrisoning troops permanently in a country and overruling the actions of their armies and police, to sending our ships a thousand miles up their inland waterways. Diplomatic escorts can be ceremonial or coercive: Commodore Perry used the threat of conquest to extract trade treaties from the Japanese under duress-“protection” there resembles the Mafia more than anything else. Usually protection is extended to American businesses no matter what their crimes or exploitation of local peoples.
4) Humanitarian efforts are few and far between in these sources. All too often they involve protecting a group favorable to ourselves against reprisals for their very real sins (the South Vietnamese Government is a classic case in point). We can only applaud real, disinterested humanitarian service, if and when we can find it. [“The legal basis for the landing of troops in foreign countries both for intervention and interposition has been explored at length in a State Department pamphlet, Right to Protect Citizens in Foreign Countries by Landing Forces (the Third Revised Edition was printed in 1934).” (Ellsworth, p. vi.)] How slippery a concept “humanitarian grounds” can be was seen in Grenada, where the Reagan government infiltrated Navy Seal assassination teams in, to create the chaos which threatened the well being of our citizens there and thus justified, on “humanitarian grounds,” our invasion. Nevertheless, we are to believe Ellsworth that we can be confident “THE MARINES HAVE LANDED AND HAVE THE SITUATION WELL IN HAND.” (Foreword, p. I)
A sample of typical bias in the Dirksen/Collier/U.S. government perspective, as produced by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), is found in the fourth paragraph of the Collier “Summary”, below:
“The majority of the instances listed were brief Marine or Navy actions prior to World War II to protect U.S. citizens or promote U.S. interests [Often, a minimum of research will show these were American business interests.] A number were actions against pirates or [those who we chose to label] bandits [who, in fact, often were legitimate if U.S. disliked political/revolutionary leaders, such as Pancho Villa in Mexico and Sandino in Nicaragua]. Some were events, such as the stationing of Marines at an Embassy or legation, which later were considered normal peacetime practice. Covert actions [which can involve thousands of deaths (Chile, 1973-), hundreds of thousands of deaths (Afghanistan, 1983-), or even millions of deaths (Indonesia, 1973-] , disaster relief, and routine alliance stationing and training exercises are not included here, nor are the Civil and Revolutionary Wars and the continual use of U.S. military units in the exploration, settlement, and pacification of the West [Note that with the exception of actions against Seminole Indians in Spanish Florida (1816-1818), none of the many hundreds of wars against Native Americans-sovereign nations all, which were settled by treaties that can only be made between nations-on their own lands, are even acknowledged, and that many of these wars did not occur in “the West” but in what today we would call the East, the mid-West and South.](Boldface added to original text, [bracketed italics] are my commentary.)
Examples of other categories of military action or involvement the Dirksen-Collier lists omit include:

1) U.S. troop and financial participation in U.N. “Peacekeeping” and NATO actions, including in the Balkans after WW II.
2) In the last half century, many country-focus covert actions have resulted in huge numbers of deaths, and remain to be cataloged. These would include coups and assassinations in places such as Iran, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Chile, Zaire, etc., which often led to wars and genocide.
3) Surrogate wars (where we instigate, encourage, sponsor, and let somebody else’s fathers, sons and brothers do the dying) account for millions more. Examples of surrogate wars include Cuba (the Bay of Pigs), Iraq-Iran (1980s), Nicaragua (1980s), Afghanistan (1980s), etc.
4) Along with surrogate wars as such, U.S. supplies of arms, funding, and advisors for military “Cold War” and “War Against Drugs” type activities led to countless deaths in internal conflicts that often might be labeled “counter-insurgencies” rather than “civil wars.” Examples of U.S. funded and supplied actions include Chiapas/Mexico after 1994, Columbia and Peru in the 1990s, etc.
5) Sui generis events such as covertly assigned U.S. Special Forces encircling Che Guevara in Bolivia and sending in Bolivian troops for the “kill”. On October 9th, 1967, Guevara was put to death by Bolivian soldiers, trained, equipped and guided to the site by Green Beret and CIA operatives.
6) U.S. military “accidents” such as the shoot-down of an innocent passenger-laden Iranian civil airliner in a regular air traffic corridor over the Gulf. These must be acknowledged, as military actions.
7) The Israeli attack on the USS Liberty (1967), and the (reportedly al-Kaeda) suicide attack in Yemen on the USS Cole (2000), represent yet another class of American military involvement.
8) The Reagan government’s illegally mining Nicaragua harbor.
9) Curiously, none of the three sources collated here, Ellsworth, Dirksen, or Collier, make any mention whatsoever in their chronologies of the U.S. “Civil War” or “War between the States.” While it does not seem to fall completely within their criteria, its absence still is notable and battles on the high seas between Union and Confederate warships might qualify. I refer to it in my commentary on “1846-1848– Mexican War.”
10) The hundreds of wars the U.S. fought against sovereign Native American nations on their soil, mentioned in the previous paragraph, are an embarrassment in their absence. “Indian” lands only became U.S. territory after those nations’ conquest, confinement on “reservations”, expulsion or annihilation, including Lord Amherst’s 18 th century (1763) and others’ later use of weapons-grade smallpox-contaminated blankets for explicitly intended genocide.
11) The Utah War of 1857 and the subsequent military occupation of Utah, in which troops were used to over-rule local territorial government, ostensibly because of “polygamy”.
12) Another type action involves covert “hot” actions during the “Cold War”. One case with which I am familiar involved U.S. “military” personnel, based in South Korea during the 1950s, who supervised, organized, and implemented the “insertion” of assassination, kidnaping, and defection escort teams into China by submarine and by air.
Items marked with an initial indicate U.S. troop actions in what was or is Latin America, and total at least 91 (slightly over 38% of the total of 237 items listed). The average American is surprised that the U.S. acknowledges having sent troops into Latin America so many times-many even before the unilateral presidential assertion of the “Monroe Doctrine” (1823). It claims a U.S. “right” to interfere in Latin America which does not have any status in U.S. law. Students in Latin America generally can describe the incidents that have occurred on their soil.

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BLOWBACK: Unintended consequences of our invasion and the Mexican War: U.S. Grant and the U.S. Conquest/taking of 1/2 of Mexico (1/3 of today’s U.S.).
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.

Ulysses Simpson Grant (New York: Dover Publications, 1995).
Chapter III: “ARMY LIFE_CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR-CAMP SALUBRITY” (pages16-17). [Notes by gct.]
“There was no intimation given that the removal of the 3d and 4th regiments of infantry (1) to the western border of Louisiana was occasioned in any way by the prospective annexation of Texas, but it was generally understood that such was the case. Ostensibly we were intended to prevent filibustering into Texas, but really as a menace to Mexico in case she appeared to contemplate war. Generally the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation was consummated or not; but not so all of them. For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.
“Texas was originally a state belonging to the republic of Mexico. It extended from the Sabine River on the east to the Rio Grande on the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico on the south and east to the territory of the United States and New Mexico–another Mexican state at that time–on the north and west. An empire in territory, it had but a very sparse population, until settled by Americans who had received authority from Mexico to colonize. These colonists paid very little attention to the supreme government, and introduced slavery into the state almost from the start, though the constitution of Mexico did not, nor does it now, sanction that institution. Soon they set up an independent government of their own, and war existed, between Texas and Mexico, in name from that time until 1836, when active hostilities very nearly ceased upon the capture of Santa Anna, the Mexican President. Before long, however, the same people–who with permission of Mexico had colonized Texas, and afterwards set up slavery there, and then seceded as soon as they felt strong enough to do so–offered themselves and the State to the United States, and in 1845 their offer was accepted. The occupation, separation and annexation were, from the inception of the movement to its final consummation, a conspiracy to acquire territory out of which slave states might be formed for the American Union. (2)
“Even if the annexation itself could be justified, the manner in which the subsequent war was forced upon Mexico cannot. The fact is, annexationists wanted more territory than they could possibly lay any claim to, as part of the new acquisition. Texas, as an independent State, never had exercised jurisdiction over the territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Mexico had never recognized the independence of Texas, and maintained that, even if independent, the State had no claim south of the Nueces. I am aware that a treaty, made by the Texans with Santa Anna while he was under duress, ceded all the territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande; but he was a prisoner of war when the treaty was made, and his life was in jeopardy. He knew, too, that he deserved execution at the hands of the Texans (3), if they should ever capture him. The Texans, if they had taken his life, would have only followed the example set by Santa Anna himself a few years before, when he executed the entire garrison of the Alamo (4) and the villagers of Goliad.
“In taking military possession of Texas after annexation, the army of occupation, under General Taylor, was directed to occupy the disputed territory. The army did not stop at the Nueces and offer to negotiate for a settlement of the boundary question, but went beyond, apparently in order to force Mexico to initiate war. It is to the credit of the American nation, however, that after conquering Mexico, and while practically holding the country in our possession, so that we could have retained the whole of it, or made any terms we chose, we paid a round sum for the additional territory taken; more than it was worth, or was likely to be, to Mexico. (5) To us it was an empire and of incalculable value; but it might have been obtained by other means. The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times.” (6)

******

gct notes

1. Grant, a West Point graduate and officer, was assigned with the latter.
2. As Grant understood, this upset the Missouri Compromise (1820) and the previously crafted balance of power between free and slave states, making necessary the ultimately futile and war-engendering Compromise of 1850.
3. Grant is correct here psychologically, but not legally. The Americans, having chosen to become Mexican citizens, were guilty of treason and summary execution was quite acceptable in such cases in wartime. Santa Anna, on the other hand, was legally entitled to all the protections of an officer and a gentleman.
4. Walt Disney and other whitewashing, romantic U.S. folklore, propaganda, history and entertainment media notwithstanding, Davy Crockett and other supposedly gallant defenders of the Alamo were doing absolutely nothing more than stealing the country they had begged to settle in and become citizens of, in order to forcibly turn Mexico’s laws on their heads and create new slave states. They died for slavery, not freedom.
5. Grant here tries to put a positive slant on the U.S. taking fully half of Mexico’s national territory, and giving in return what was even in his day a rather paltry sum–a tiny fraction of the value of the gold mined in California after 1847, for example–let alone from a contemporary economic viewpoint. No scholar of Mexican history could agree with his assessment.
6. A most damning assessment of the American Civil War and its causes by the man who “won” it.
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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY — NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE — WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
(NOTE: 

The following represents the views of the author and not necessarily the views of the Naval Historical Center.)

Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798 – 1993

by Ellen C. Collier

Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
Washington DC: Congressional Research Service — Library of Congress — October 7, 1993
Summary
This report lists 234  instances in which the United States has used its armed forces abroad in situations of conflict or potential conflict or for other than normal peacetime purposes. It brings up to date a 1989 list that was compiled in part from various older lists and is intended primarily to provide a rough sketch survey of past U.S. military ventures abroad. A detailed description and analysis are not undertaken here.
The instances differ greatly in number of forces, purpose, extent of hostilities, and legal authorization. Five of the instances are declared wars: the War of 1812, the Mexican War of 1846, the Spanish American War of 1898, World War I declared in 1917, and World War II declared in 1941.
Some of the instances were extended military engagements that might be considered undeclared wars. These include the Undeclared Naval War with France from 1798 to 1800; the First Barbary War from 1801 to 1805; the Second Barbary War of 1815; the Korean War of 1950-53; the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973; and the Persian Gulf War of 1991. In some cases, such as the Persian Gulf War against Iraq, Congress authorized the military action although it did not declare war.
The majority of the instances listed were brief Marine or Navy actions prior to World War II to protect U.S. citizens or promote U.S. interests. A number were actions against pirates or bandits. Some were events, such as the stationing of Marines at an Embassy or legation, which later were considered normal peacetime practice. Covert actions, disaster relief, and routine alliance stationing and training exercises are not included here, nor are the Civil and Revolutionary Wars and the continual use of U.S. military units in the exploration, settlement, and pacification of the West.  [See Addenda]
INSTANCES OF USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES

ABROAD, 1798-1993 (Note 1)

 

The following list indicates approximately 234 times that the United States has utilized military forces abroad in situations of conflict or potential conflict to protect U.S. citizens or promote U.S. interests. The list does not include covert actions or numerous instances in which U.S. forces have been stationed abroad since World War II in occupation forces or for participation in mutual security organizations, base agreements, or routine military assistance or training operations. Because of differing judgments over the actions to be included, other lists may include more or fewer instances.  (Note 2)
The instances vary greatly in size of operation, legal authorization, and significance. The number of troops involved range from a few sailors or Marines landed to protect American lives and property to hundreds of thousands in Vietnam and millions in World War II. Some actions were of short duration and some lasted a number of years. In some instances a military officer acted without authorization; some actions were conducted solely under the President’s powers as Chief Executive or Commander in Chief; other instances were authorized by Congress in some fashion; five were declared wars. For most of the instances listed, however, the status of the action under domestic or international law has not been addressed. Thus inclusion in this list does not connote either legality or significance.

Items in [italicized square brackets] are additions of Gordon C. Thomasson (gct). Countless more could be made .

Items beginning with an opaque circle “” are marked by gct and involve Latin America. Items marked with an “E” and page numbers, indicates appearance in Ellsworth, and any (parenthetical remarks) follow, thus E:175 (blah-blah). A letter “D” indicates the item appears in Dirksen. [On Dirksen and Ellsworth, see the ADDENDA.]


1798-1800 –Undeclared Naval War with France. This contest included land actions, such as that in the Dominican Republic, city of Puerto Plata, where marines captured a French privateer under the guns of the forts.  [ E:55-56 (1st USMC landing outside of war). D:S6955. ]
1801-05 –Tripoli. The First Barbary War included the USS George Washington and USS  Philadelphia affairs and the Eaton expedition, during which a few marines landed with United States Agent William Eaton to raise a force against Tripoli in an effort to free the crew of the  Philadelphia. Tripoli declared war but not the United States.

[ E:157-159. D ]
1806 –Mexico (Spanish territory). Capt. Z. M. Pike, with a platoon of troops, invaded Spanish territory at the headwaters of the Rio Grande on orders from Gen. James Wilkinson. He was made prisoner without resistance at a fort he constructed in present day Colorado, taken to Mexico, and later released after seizure of his papers.  [ D ]
1806-10 –Gulf of Mexico. American gunboats operated from New Orleans against Spanish and French privateers off the Mississippi Delta, chiefly under Capt. John Shaw and Master Commandant David Porter.  [ D ]
1810 –West Florida (Spanish territory). Gov. Claiborne of Louisiana, on orders of the President, occupied with troops territory in dispute east of Mississippi as far as the Pearl River, later the eastern boundary of Louisiana. He was authorized to seize as far east as the Perdido River.  [ D ]
1812 –Amelia Island and other – parts of east Florida, then under Spain. Temporary possession was authorized by President Madison and by Congress, to prevent occupation by any other power; but possession was obtained by Gen. George Matthews in so irregular a manner that his measures were disavowed by the President. [ D ]
1812-15 –War of 1812. On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Among the issues leading to the war were British interception of neutral ships and blockades of the United States during British hostilities with France. [President Madison’s stated intent was to annex Canada to the U.S. by force.]
1813 –West Florida (Spanish territory). On authority given by Congress, General Wilkinson seized Mobile Bay in April with 600 soldiers. A small Spanish garrison gave way. Thus U.S. advanced into disputed territory to the Perdido River, as projected in 1810. No fighting.  [ D ]
1813-14 –Mar[q]uesas Islands. U.S. forces built a fort on the island of Nukahiva to protect three prize ships which had been captured from the British.  [ E:112-113. D ]
1814 –Spanish Florida. Gen. Andrew Jackson took Pensacola and drove out the British with whom the United States was at war.  [ D ]
1814-25 –Caribbean. Engagements between pirates and American ships or squadrons took place repeatedly especially ashore and offshore about Cuba, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, and Yucatan. Three thousand pirate attacks on merchantmen were reported between 1815 and 1823. In 1822 Commodore James Biddle employed a squadron of two frigates, four sloops of war, two brigs, four schooners, and two gunboats in the West Indies.  [ D ]
1815 –Algiers. The second Barbary War was declared by the opponents but not by the United States. Congress authorized an expedition. A large fleet under Decatur attacked Algiers and obtained indemnities.  [ D ]
1815 –Tripoli. After securing an agreement from Algiers, Decatur demonstrated with his squadron at Tunis and Tripoli, where he secured indemnities for offenses during the War of 1812.  [ D ]
1816 –Spanish Florida. United States forces destroyed Nicholls Fort, called also Negro Fort, which harbored raiders making forays into United States territory [to free slaves]. [ D ]
1816-18 –Spanish Florida – First Seminole War. The Seminole Indians, whose area was a resort for escaped slaves and border ruffians, were attacked by troops under Generals Jackson and Gaines and pursued into northern Florida. Spanish posts were attacked and occupied, British citizens executed. In 1819 the Floridas were ceded to the United States. [This was a U.S. war in support of Southern slavery.]
1817 –Amelia Island (Spanish territory off Florida). Under orders of President Monroe, United States forces landed and expelled a group of smugglers, adventurers, and freebooters. [ D ]
1818 –Oregon. The USS . Ontario dispatched from Washington, landed at the Columbia River and in August took possession of Oregon territory. Britain had conceded sovereignty but Russia and Spain asserted  [and in fact had valid prior legal] claims to the area.  [ D ]
1820-23  [or, in Dirksen,to 1826] –Africa. Naval units raided the slave traffic pursuant to the 1819 act of Congress. [ D ]
1822 –Cuba[Spanish colony until 1899.]. United States naval forces suppressing piracy landed on the northwest coast of Cuba and burned a pirate station.  [ D ]
1823 –Cuba. Brief landings in pursuit of pirates occurred April 8 near Escondido; April 16 near Cayo Blanco; July 11 at Siquapa Bay; July 21 at Cape Cruz; and October 23 at Camrioca.  [ D ]
1824 –Cuba. In October the USS  Porpoise landed bluejackets near Matanzas in pursuit of pirates. This was during the cruise authorized in 1822.  [ D ]
1824 –Puerto Rico (Spanish territory). Commodore David Porter with a landing party attacked the town of Fajardo which had sheltered pirates and insulted American naval officers. He landed with 200 men in November and forced an apology. Commodore Porter was later court-martialed for overstepping his powers. [ E:139-140. D ]
1825 –Cuba. In March cooperating American and British forces landed at Sagua La Grande to capture pirates.  [ D ]
1827 –Greece. In October and November landing parties hunted pirates on the islands of Argenteire, Miconi, and Androse.

1831-32 –Falkland Islands. Captain Duncan of the USS Lexington investigated the capture of three American sealing vessels and sought to protect American interests.  [Here, as almost everywhere in this document, “interests” is a euphemism for American money or profit. The navy is used to permit Americans’ sealing, but in 1891 it prohibits others. (See 1891–Bering Strait, below.] [ E:76. D ]
1832 –Sumatra – February 6 to 9. A naval force landed and stormed a fort to punish natives of the town of Quallah Battoo for plundering the American ship Friendship . [ E:151-153. D ]
1833 –Argentina – October 31 to November 15. A force was sent ashore at Buenos Aires to protect the interests of the United States and other countries during an insurrection. [ E:9. D ]
1835-36 –Peru – December 10, 1835, to January 24, 1836, and August 31 to December 7, 1836. Marines protected American interests in Callao and Lima during an attempted revolution. [ E:137-138. D ]
1836 –Mexico. General Gaines occupied Nacogdoches (Tex.), disputed territory, from July to December during the Texan war for independence, under  [transparently illegal and provocative] orders to cross the “imaginary boundary line” if an Indian outbreak threatened.  [ D ]
1838-39 –Sumatra – December 24, 1838, to January 4, 1839. A naval force landed to punish natives of the towns of Quallah Battoo and Muckie (Mukki) for depredations on American shipping. [ E:153-154. D ]
1840 –Fiji Islands – July. Naval forces landed to punish natives for attacking American exploring and surveying parties.  [ E:77-80. D ]
1841 –Drummond Island, Kingsmill Group. A naval party landed to avenge the murder of a seaman by the  [note they have no idea who is guilty, so they punish all] natives . [ E:72-74 (300 homes reported burned). D ]
1841 –Samoa – February 24. A naval party landed and burned towns after the murder of an American seaman on Upolu Island [Rather typically, not knowing the guilty party they destroyed three entire villages. The racist label “natives” as usual disguises the fact that these were their lands and the intruders had no real right to be there.].  [ E:144-146. D ]
1842 –Mexico. Commodore T.A.C. Jones, in command of a squadron long cruising off California, occupied Monterey, Calif., on October 19, believing war had come. He discovered peace, withdrew, and saluted. A similar incident occurred a week later at San Diego.  [These almost invasion-takeovers were not accidental. They were pre-planned and done under presidential orders which anticipated the U.S.making war against Mexico.]
1843 –China. Sailors and marines from the  St. Louis were landed after a clash between Americans and Chinese at the trading post in Canton.
1843 –Africa–November 29 to December 16. Four United States vessels demonstrated and landed various parties (one of 200 marines and sailors) to discourage piracy and the slave trade along the Ivory coast, and to punish attacks by the natives on American seamen and shipping.  [This actually was done in support of the American Colonization Society’s Liberian colony, and villages were indiscriminately destroyed as a mechanism of terror.] [ E:3-7 (reprisal raid, atrocities). D ]
1844 –Mexico. President Tyler deployed U.S. forces to protect Texas against Mexico, pending Senate approval of a treaty of annexation. (Later rejected.) He defended his action against a Senate resolution of inquiry.  [“To protect Texas” was a pretext, and preparation for invasion and war against Mexico.] [ D ]
1846-48 –Mexican War. On May 13,1846, the United States recognized the existence of a state of war with Mexico . After the annexation of Texas in 1845, the United States and Mexico failed to resolve a boundary dispute and President Polk said that it was necessary to deploy forces in Mexico to meet a threatened invasion.  [In contrast to the omissions of blame or guilt and atrocities, this is perhaps the most bald-faced lie in the Dirksen-Collier document. Polk ordered U.S. troops to invade Mexico, across the Nueces River, which was the treaty boundary we had accepted. This invasion was an illegal implementation of “Manifest Destiny” and intentionally precipitated the war with Mexico which took one half of its land area away, and by most accounts made the U.S. War between the States inevitable.] [ D ]
1849 –Smyrna. In July a naval force gained release of an American seized by Austrian officials. [ D:S6956 ]
1851 –Turkey. After a massacre of foreigners (including Americans) at Jaffa in January, a demonstration by the Mediterranean Squadron was ordered along the Turkish (Levant) coast.  [ D ]
1851 –Johann[a] Island (east of Africa)–August. Forces from the U.S. sloop of war Dale exacted redress for the unlawful imprisonment of the captain of an American whaling brig.[This is a typical case of where we decide what is “lawful”.] [ E:106-107. D ]
1852-53 –Argentina–February 3 to 12, 1852; September 17, 1852 to April 1853. Marines were landed and maintained in Buenos Aires to protect American interests during a revolution. [ E:10-13. D ]
1853 –Nicaragua–March 11 to 13. U.S. forces landed to protect American lives and interests during political disturbances.  [ E:120. D ]
1853-54 –Japan. Commodore Perry and his expedition made a display of force leading to the “opening of Japan”  [to American business interests] and the Perry Expedition.  [A few short years later, the Tokugawa government was already planning to reverse this American invasion in what the U.S. would call World War II and consider an unprovoked sneak attack rather than the continuation of the war it began.] [ E:99-102. D ]
1853-54 –Ryukyu and Bonin Islands. Commodore Perry on three visits before going to Japan and while waiting for a reply from Japan made a naval demonstration, landing marines twice, and secured a coaling concession from the ruler of Naha on Okinawa; he also demonstrated in the Bonin Islands with the purpose of securing facilities for commerce.  [ E:108-111 (“Luchu Islands”). D ]
1853– Siam in Chinese waters. Assist Siamese naval captain in suppressing mutiny aboard his warship. [ E:150. D ]
1854–China–April 4 to June 15 to 17. American and English ships landed forces to protect American interests in and near Shanghai during Chinese civil strife.  [ E:21-22 (Attack Imperial Army). D ]
1854 –Nicaragua–July 9 to 15. Naval forces bombarded and burned San Juan del Norte (Greytown) to avenge an insult to the American Minister to Nicaragua.  [While the U.S. derides Asians concerned with loss of “face” it has always been ready to violently avenge “insults” to its representatives and its flag, as if there were a difference.] [ E:121-122. D ]
1855 –China–May 19 to 21. U.S. forces protected American interests in Shanghai and, from August 3 to 5 fought pirates near Hong Kong.

[ E:23-24. D ]
1855 –Fiji Islands–September 12 to November 4. An American naval force landed to seek reparations for depredations on American residents and seamen.  [ E:80-81. D ]
1855 –Uruguay–November 25 to 29. United States and European naval forces landed to protect American interests during an attempted revolution in Montevideo.  [ E:160-161. D ]
1856 –Panama, Republic of New Grenada–September 19 to 22. U.S. forces landed to protect American interests during an insurrection.  [ D ]
1856 –China–October 22 to December 6. U.S. forces landed to protect American interests at Canton during hostilities between the British and the Chinese, and to avenge an assault upon an unarmed boat displaying the United States flag. [ E:24-27. D ]
1857 –Nicaragua–April to May, November to December. In May Commander C.H. Davis of the United States Navy, with some marines, received the surrender of William Walker, who had been attempting to get control of the country, and protected his men from the retaliation of native allies who had been fighting Walker. In November and December of the same year United States vessels SaratogaWabash, and Fulton opposed another attempt of William Walker on Nicaragua. Commodore Hiram Paulding’s act of landing marines and compelling the removal of Walker to the United States, was tacitly disavowed by Secretary of State Lewis Cass, and Paulding was forced into retirement.  [Should Paulding have left Walker to be executed for his indisputable crime of invasion? Should the U.S. have blocked Walker’s plots? How did slavery figure in?]
1858 –Uruguay–January 2 to 27. Forces from two United States warships landed to protect American property during a revolution in Montevideo.  [ E:161. D ]
1858 –Fiji Islands–October 6 to 16. A marine expedition chastised natives for the murder of two American citizens at Waya.  [ E:81-82. D ]
1858-59 –Turkey. The Secretary of State requested a display of naval force along the Levant after a massacre of Americans at Jaffa and mistreatment elsewhere “to remind the authorities (of Turkey) of the power of the United States.”  [ D ]
1859 –Paraguay. Congress authorized a naval squadron to seek redress for an attack on a naval vessel in the Parana River during 1855. Apologies were made after a large display of force.  [Here the U.S. asserts not just “freedom of the seas” but, hypocritically, the right to sail warships effectively limitless distances inland on a fresh water river within a sovereign nation’s territory, which we absolutely would not have allowed another nation’s warships to do on the Hudson or the Mississippi, for example.][ D ]
1859 –Mexico. Two hundred United States soldiers crossed the Rio Grande in pursuit of the Mexican bandit Cortina.  [ D ]
1859 –China–July 31 to August 2. A naval force landed to protect American interests in Shanghai. [ E:27-28. D ]
1860 –Angola, Portuguese West Africa–March 1. American residents at Kissembo called upon American and British ships to protect lives and property during problems with natives. [“Natives”, here again, is a racist reference to those who more properly are citizens of the land in question.]  [ E:7. D ]
1860 –Colombia, Bay of Panama–September 27 to October 8. Naval forces landed to protect American interests during a revolution.  [ E:46. D ]
1863 –Japan–July 16. The USS Wyoming retaliated against a firing on the American vessel  Pembroke at Shimonoseki.  [The American ship was not hit. The Dirksen version describes the incident as “an insult to the American flag.” 1969: S6956] [ D ]
1864 –Japan–July 14 to August 3. Naval forces protected the United States Minister to Japan when he visited Yedo  [today Tokyo] to negotiate concerning some American claims against Japan, and to make his negotiations easier by impressing [“impressing” is a cute euphemism: threatening is meant, just as Commodore Perry had done!] the Japanese with American power.  [ D ]
1864 –Japan–September 4 to 14. Naval forces of the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands compelled Japan and the Prince of Nagato in particular to permit the Straits of Shimonoseki to be used by foreign shipping in accordance with treaties already signed.  [The earlier treaties had in turn been imposed under “duress” — which is to say threat of war and conquest.] [ D ]
1865 –Panama [part of Colombia]–March 9 and 10. U.S. forces protected the lives and property of American residents during a revolution.  [ D ]
1866 –Mexico. To protect American residents, General Sedgwick and 100 men in November obtained surrender of Matamoras. After 3 days he was ordered by U.S. Government to withdraw. His act was repudiated by the President.  [ D ]
1866 –China. From June 20 to July 7, U.S. forces punished an assault on the American consul at Newchwang.  [Additionally in Dirksen: “July 14, for consultation with authorities on shore; August 9, at Shanghai to extinguish a serious fire in the city.”]  [ E:28-30. D ]
1867 –Nicaragua. Marines occupied Managua and Leon.
1867 –Formosa–June 13. A naval force landed and burned a number of huts to punish the murder of the crew of a wrecked American vessel.  [Dirksen reads: “To punish a horde of savages who were  supposed to have murdered …” 1969:6956, boldface added.]  [ E:83-84. D ]
1868 –Japan (Osaka, Hiolo, Nagasaki, Yokohama, and Negata)–February 4 to 8, April 4 to May 12, June 12 and 13. U.S. forces were landed to protect American interests during the civil war in Japan over the abolition of the Shogunate and the restoration of the Mikado.  [The “Meiji Restoration” which, predictably, was even more committed than the Tokugawa to avenging America’s use of force to make a profit, beginning with Commodore Perry.][ E:103-104 (Ellsworth has a separate entry for a marine landing in 1867). D ]
1868 –Uruguay–February 7 and 8, 19 to 26. U.S. forces protected foreign residents and the customhouse  [where commercial trade goods were stored until duties were paid] during an insurrection at Montevideo.  [ E:161-163D ]
1868 –Colombia–April. U.S. forces protected passengers and treasure in transit at Aspinwall during the absence of local police or troops on the occasion of the death of the President of Colombia.  [ D ]
1870 –Mexico–June 17 and 18. U.S. forces destroyed the pirate ship Forward, which had been run aground about 40 miles up the Rio Tecapan.  [ E:114-115. D ]
1870 –Hawaiian Islands–September 21. U.S. forces placed the American flag at half mast upon the death of Queen Kalama, when the American consul at Honolulu would not assume responsibility for so doing.  [ E:92. D ]
1871 –Korea–June 10 to 12. A U.S. naval force attacked and captured five forts to punish natives  [not “citizens” of Korea] for depredations on Americans, particularly for murdering the crew of the  General Sherman and burning the schooner, and for later firing on other American small boats taking soundings up the Salee River.

[ E:57-59. D ]
1873 –Colombia (Bay of Panama)–May 7 to 22, September 23 to October 9. U.S. forces protected American interests during hostilities over possession of the government of the State of Panama.  [ E:46-49. D ]
1873 –Mexico. United States troops crossed the Mexican border repeatedly in pursuit of cattle and other thieves. There were some reciprocal pursuits by Mexican troops into border territory. Mexico protested frequently. Notable cases were at Remolina in May 1873 and at Las Cuevas in 1875. Washington orders often supported these excursions. Agreements between Mexico and the United States, the first in 1882  [with the criminally pro-U.S. business dictator Porfirio Diaz], finally legitimized such raids. They continued intermittently, with minor disputes, until 1896. [ D ]
1874 –Hawaiian Islands–February 12 to 20. Detachments from American vessels were landed to preserve order and protect American lives and interests during the coronation of a new king.  [ E:92. D ]
1876 –Mexico–May 18. An American force was landed to police the town of Matamoras temporarily while it was without other government.  [ D ]
1878– France. Marine detail sent to Paris to guard American displays at the Paris Exposition. [ E:85 ]
1882–Egypt–July 14 to 18. American forces landed to protect American interests during warfare between British and Egyptians and looting of the city of Alexandria by Arabs.  [“Arabs” other than Egyptian citizens?] [ E:75. D ]
1885 –Panama (Colon)–January 18 and 19. U.S. forces were used to guard the valuables in transit over the  [U.S. owned] Panama Railroad, and the safes and vaults of the company during revolutionary activity. In March, April, and May in the cities of Colon and Panama, the forces helped reestablish freedom of transit during revolutionary activity. [ E:48-51. D ]
1888 –Korea–June. A naval force was sent ashore to protect American residents in Seoul during unsettled political conditions, when an outbreak of the populace was expected. [ E:59. D ]
1888 –Haiti–December 20. A display of force persuaded the Haitian Government to give up an American steamer which had been seized on the  [legal!] charge of breach of blockade.  [ E:88. D ]
1888–89 –Samoa–November 14, 1888, to March 20, 1889. U.S. forces were landed to protect American citizens and the consulate during a native civil war.  [ E:146. D ]
1889 –Hawaiian Islands–July 30 and 31. U.S. forces protected American interests at Honolulu during a revolution. [Part of the long process of the U.S. seizure of Hawaii.] [ E:92-93. D ]
1890 –Argentina. A naval party landed to protect U.S. consulate and legation in Buenos Aires. [ E:13. D ]
1890 – –  Japan. Force landed to extinguish a fire.  [ E:104-105. ]
1891 –Haiti. U.S. forces sought to protect American lives and property on Navassa Island.  [Dirksen reads: “when negro laborers got out of control.” Probably for asking for wages?][ E:119. D ]
1891 –Bering Strait–July 2 to October 5. Naval forces sought to stop seal poaching. [ E:14-15. (But see 1831-1832–Falkland Islands .). D ]
1891 –Chile–August 28 to 30. U.S. forces protected the American consulate and the women and children who had taken refuge in it during a revolution in Valparaiso. [ E:16-20 (Ellsworth adds another landing in October). D ]
1893 –Hawaii–January 16 to April 1. Marines were landed ostensibly to protect American lives and property, but many believed actually to promote a provisional government under Sanford B. Dole. This action was disavowed by the United States. [ E:93. D ]
1894 –Brazil–January. A display of naval force sought to protect American commerce and shipping at Rio de Janeiro during a Brazilian civil war.  [ D ]
1894 –Nicaragua–July 6 to August 7. U.S. forces sought to protect American interests at Bluefields following a revolution.  [ E:122. D ]
1894-95 –China. Marines were stationed at Tientsin and penetrated to Peking for protection purposes during the Sino–Japanese War.

[ E:30-32. D ]
1894-95 –China. A naval vessel was beached and used as a fort at Newchwang for protection of American nationals.  [ D ]
1894-96 –Korea–July 24, 1894 to April 3, 1896. A guard of marines was sent to protect the American legation and American lives and interests at Seoul during and following the Sino– Japanese War.

[ E:59-60. D ]
1895 –Colombia–March 8 to 9. U.S. forces protected American interests during an attack on the town of Bocas del Toro by a bandit chieftain.  [ E:51-52 (Ellsworth says protection during an insurrection, does not mention any “bandit.”) D ]
1895– Trinidad, B.W.I. Suppress a fire in the town.  [ E:156. D ]
1896 –Nicaragua–May 2 to 4. U.S. forces protected American interests in Corinto during political unrest.  [ E:122-123. D ]
1898 –Nicaragua–February 7 and 8. U.S. forces protected American lives and property at San Juan del Sur.  [ E:123. D ]
1898–The Spanish–American War. On April 25, 1898, the United States declared war with Spain . The war followed a Cuban insurrection against Spanish rule and the [incontrovertibly accidental] sinking of the U.S.S.  Maine in the harbor at Havana.  [Predictably, no mention is made of U.S. control of Cuba until 1906 (below).]  [ D ]
1898–99 –China–November 5, 1898 to March 15, 1899. U.S. forces provided a guard for the legation at Peking and the consulate at Tientsin during contest between the Dowager Empress and her son.

[ E:32-33. D ]
1899 –Nicaragua. American and British naval forces were landed to protect national interests at San Juan del Norte, February 22 to March 5, and at Bluefields a few weeks later in connection with the insurrection of Gen. Juan P. Reyes. [ E:123-124. D:S6957. ]
1899 –Samoa–February-May 15. American and British naval forces were landed to protect national interests and to take part in a bloody contention over the succession to the throne. [“Protect national interests” means decide who will rule.] [ E:146-149. D ]
1899–1901 –Philippine Islands. U.S. forces protected American interests following the war with Spain and conquered the islands by defeating the Filipinos in their war for independence.  [The Philippines remained an American colony up to and after World War II, despite their U.S. Declaration of Independence-inspired struggle.] [ D ]
1900 –China–May 24 to September 28. American troops participated in operations to protect foreign lives during the Boxer rising, particularly at Peking. For many years after this experience a permanent legation guard was maintained in Peking, and was strengthened at times as trouble threatened. [Dirksen also reads: “It was still there in 1934.” “Still” = 34 years! 1969: S6957] [ E:33-39. D ]
1901 –Colombia (State of Panama)–November 20 to December 4. U.S. forces protected American property on the Isthmus and kept transit lines open during serious revolutionary disturbances.  [ E:52-53. D ]
1902 –Colombia–April 16 to 23. U.S. forces protected American lives and property at Bocas del Toro during a civil war.  [ E:54-56. D ]
1902 –Colombia (State of Panama)–September 17 to November 18. The United States placed armed guards on all trains crossing the Isthmus to keep the railroad line open, and stationed ships on both sides of Panama to prevent the landing of Colombian troops.  [The U.S. planned and engineered the “civil war” and breakaway of Panama from Colombia to give itself the Panama “Canal Zone”.] [ D ]
1903 –Honduras–March 23 to 30 or 31. U.S. forces protected the American consulate and the steamship wharf at Puerto Cortez during a period of revolutionary activity. [ E: 94-95. D ]
1903 –Dominican Republic–March 30 to April 21. A detachment of marines was landed to protect American interests in the city of Santo Domingo during a revolutionary outbreak.  [ E:66. D ]
1903 –Syria–September 7 to 12. U.S. forces protected the American consulate in Beirut when a local Moslem uprising was feared.

[ E:155 (Ellsworth describes it as a Christian-Moslem conflict, or  vice versa.) D ]
1903-04 –Abyssinia. Twenty-five marines were sent to Abyssinia to protect the U.S. Consul General while he negotiated a treaty.  [ E:1-2 (Diplomatic escort.) D ]
1903-14 –Panama. U.S. forces sought to protect American interests and lives during and following the revolution for independence from Colombia over construction of the Isthmian Canal. With brief intermissions, United States Marines were stationed on the Isthmus from November 4, 1903, to January 21 1914 to guard American interests. [ E:134-136. D ]
1904 –Dominican Republic– January 2 to February 11. American and British naval forces established an area in which no fighting would be allowed and protected American interests in Puerto Plata and Sosua and Santo Domingo City during revolutionary fighting.

[ E:66-69. D ]
1904 –Tangier, Morocco. “We want either Perdicaris alive or Raisula dead.” A squadron demonstrated to force release of a kidnapped American. Marine guard was landed to protect the consul general.  [ E:8. D ]
1904 –Panama–November 17 to 24. U.S. forces protected American lives and property at Ancon at the time of a threatened insurrection.  [ D ]
1904-05 –Korea–January 5, 1904, to November 11, 1905. A Marine guard was sent to protect the American legation in Seoul during the Russo-Japanese War.  [ E:60-61. D ] Legation guard details are also assigned in 1905 to China  [ E:39. ], France [ E:86-87.], and Russia

[ E:141-142 ] , and Marines become permanent U.S. embassy guards later that year.  [ E:39-40. ]
1905– France. 500 officers and men enter France as an honor guard to return the remains of U.S. Navy Captain to U.S.A.  [ E:86-87. ]
1906-09 –Cuba–September 1906 to January 23, 1909. U.S. forces sought to restore order, protect foreigners, and establish a stable government after serious revolutionary activity.  [Anti-Castro bias is almost without question why the shameful history of the U.S. and its military in Cuba is absent from 1898 to 1906 in both the Dirksen and Collier texts. The U.S. inserted the disgraceful Platt Amendment in the Cuban Constitution in 1901, giving the U.S. veto power of Cuba’s laws, internal and international affairs, as well as giving itself the Guantanamo Naval Base. The U.S. sought at one point to take away the vote from Afro-Cubans and then annex it to the U.S. (A dream of pro-slavery forces from early in the 19th century.) Under Magoon the U.S. kept the Cuban flag flying from 1906 into 1909, but ran the country. Much of the history of Cuban political unrest in the 20th century can be traced to the Platt Amendment and subsequent U.S. control of the government and economy in general and sugar in particular.]  [ E:62. D ]
1907 –Honduras–March 18 to June 8. To protect American interests during a war between Honduras and Nicaragua, troops were stationed in Trujillo, Ceiba, Puerto Cortez, San Pedro Laguna and Choloma.  [ E:95-96. D ]
1910 –Nicaragua[Dirksen also reads: “February 22.–During a civil war, to get information of conditions at Corinto;” “Get information” aka gather intelligence?] May 19 to September 4. U.S. forces protected American interests at Bluefields.  [ E:124-125. D ]
1911 –Honduras–January 26  [Dirksen also reads: “and some weeks thereafter”]. American naval detachments were landed to protect American lives and interests during a civil war in Honduras.

[ D ]
1911 –China. As the nationalist revolution approached, in October an ensign and 10 men tried to enter Wuchang to rescue missionaries but retired on being warned away and a small landing force guarded American private property and consulate at Hankow. A marine guard was established in November over the cable stations at Shanghai; landing forces were sent for protection in Nanking, Chinkiang, Taku and elsewhere.  [ E:40. D ]
1912 –Honduras. A small force landed to prevent seizure by the government of an American-owned railroad at Puerto Cortez. The forces were withdrawn after the United States disapproved the action.  [ D ]
1912 –Panama. Troops, on request of both political parties, supervised elections outside the Canal Zone. [ D ]
1912 –Cuba–June 5 to August 5. U.S. forces protected American interests on the Province of Oriente, and in Havana.  [ E:62-63. D ]
1912 –China–August 24 to 26, on Kentucky Island, and August 26 to 30 at Camp Nicholson. U.S. forces protect Americans and American interests during revolutionary activity. [ E:41. D ]
1912 –Turkey–November 18 to December 3. U.S. forces guarded the American legation at Constantinople during a Balkan War.  [ D ]
1912-25 –Nicaragua–August to November 1912. U.S. forces protected American interests during an attempted revolution. A small

force, serving as a legation guard and seeking to promote peace and stability  [of U.S. interests], remained until August 5, 1925. [ E:125-127. D ]
1912-41 –China. The disorders which began with the Kuomintang rebellion in 1912, which were redirected by the invasion of China by Japan and finally ended by war between Japan and the United States in 1941, led to demonstrations and landing parties for the protection of U.S.  [economic] interests in China continuously and at many points from 1912 on to 1941. The guard at Peking and along the route to the sea was maintained until 1941. In 1927, the United States had 5,670 troops ashore in China and 44 naval vessels in its waters. In 1933 the United States had 3,027 armed men ashore. The protective action was generally based on treaties with China concluded from 1858 to 1901.  [ E:40-45 (Separate entries for 1912, 1913, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927-1934). D ]
1913–Mexico– September 5 to 7. A few marines landed at Ciaris Estero to aid in evacuating American citizens and others from the Yaqui Valley, made dangerous for foreigners by civil strife. [ E:115-116. D ]
1914 –Haiti–January 29 to February 9, February 20 to 21, October 19. Intermittently U.S. naval forces protected American nationals in a time of rioting and revolution.  [ E:88. D ]
1914 –Dominican Republic–June and July. During a revolutionary movement, United States naval forces by gunfire stopped the bombardment of Puerto Plata, and by threat of force maintained Santo Domingo City as a neutral zone.  [ D ]
1914-17 –Mexico. Undeclared Mexican–American hostilities followed the  Dolphin affair and Villa’s raids [“Raids” or legitimate retaliation are a question, but U.S. violations of its own neutrality, taking sides with the most pro-U.S. business faction within the civil war, against Villa are not.] and included capture of Vera Cruz and later Pershing’s [long duration but totally failed] expedition  [or, dress rehearsal for World War I, and new war technology shakedown “cruise”.] into northern Mexico. [ E:116-118. D ]
1915-34 –Haiti–July 28, 1915, to August 15, 1934. U.S. forces maintained order during a period of chronic and threatened insurrection.  [ E:89-91 (Ellsworth’s 1934 praise for the Marines success in transforming Haiti is painful in retrospect. D ]
1916 –China. American forces landed to quell a riot taking place on American property in Nanking.
1916-24 –Dominican Republic–May 1916 to September 1924. American naval forces maintained order during a period of chronic and threatened insurrection.  [ E:69-71. D ]
1917 –China. American troops were landed at Chungking to protect American lives during a political crisis.
1917-18 –World War I. On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war with Germany and on December 7,1917, with Austria-Hungary . Entrance of the United States into the war was precipitated by Germany’s submarine warfare against neutral shipping.  [Supposedly “neutral”, such as the million rounds of ammunition, high explosives, and eleven mounted deck cannon bearing Lusitania. The U.S. consistently violated the laws of neutrality in support of Great Britain, France, and Russia.] [ D ]
1917-22 –Cuba[Dirksen extends the date to 1933]. U.S. forces protected American interests during insurrection and subsequent unsettled conditions. Most of the Uni States armed forces left Cuba by August 1919, but two companies remained at Camaguey until February 1922. [ E:63-64. D ]
1918-19 –Mexico. After withdrawal of the Pershing expedition, U.S. troops entered Mexico in pursuit of bandits  [as U.S. would have it], at least three times in 1918 and s[ix] times in 1919. In August 1918 American and Mexican troops fought at Nogales.  [ D ]
1918-20 –Panama. U.S. forces were used for police duty according to  [our] treaty stipulations, at Chiriqui, during election disturbances and subsequent unrest. [ D ]
1918-20  Soviet Russia. Marines were landed at and near Vladivostok in June and July to protect the American consulate and other points in the fighting between the Bolshevik troops and the Czech Army which had traversed Siberia from the western front. A joint proclamation of emergency government and neutrality was issued by the American, Japanese, British, French, and Czech commanders in July. In August 7,000 men were landed in Vladivostok and remained until January 1920[invading many hundreds of miles along the Trans-Siberian rail line], as part of an allied occupation force. In September 1918, 5,000 American troops joined the allied intervention force at Archangel  [Dirksen also reads: “suffered 500 casualties”] and remained until June 1919. [U.S. troops were in regular and hot combat with Russian forces throughout this invasion of what had been our World War I ally.] These operations were in response to the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and were partly supported by Czarist or Kerensky elements.
[Beside different paragraph divisions, Dirksen also includes: 

¶”A handful of marines took part earlier in a British landing on the Murman coast (near Norway) but only incidentally. 

¶ “All these operations were to offset effects of the Bolsheviki revolution in Russia and were partly supported by Czarist or Kerensky elements. No war was declared. Bolsheviki elements participated at times with us but Soviet Russia still claims damages. ” The phrase “Bolsheviki elements participated with us at times” leaves us to ask: against themselves? This appears to be U.S. Cold War doublespeak.] [ E:141-143. D ]

 

1919 –Dalmatia. U.S. forces were landed at Trau at the request of Italian authorities to police order between the Italians and Serbs.
1919 –Turkey. Marines from the USS Arizona were landed to guard the U.S. Consulate during the Greek occupation of Constantinople.
1919 –Honduras–September 8 to 12. A landing force was sent ashore to maintain order in a neutral zone during an attempted revolution.  [ D ]
1920 –China–March 14. A landing force was sent ashore for a few hours to protect lives during a disturbance at Kiukiang.  [ D ]
1920 –Guatemala–April 9 to 27. U.S. forces protected the American Legation and other American interests, such as the cable station, during a period of fighting between Unionists and the Government of Guatemala.  [ D ]
1920-22 –Russia (Siberia)–February 16, 1920, to November 19, 1922. A Marine guard was sent to protect the United States radio station and property on Russian Island, Bay of Vladivostok.  [Which we took and held through war, and not any treaty right.]
1921 –Panama–Costa Rica. American naval squadrons demonstrated in April on both sides of the Isthmus to prevent war between the two countries over a boundary dispute. [ D ]
1922– Nicaragua. Marines intervene in a revolt.  [ E:128. ]
1922 –Turkey–September and October. A landing force was sent ashore with consent of both Greek and Turkish authorities, to protect American lives and property when the Turkish Nationalists entered Smyrna.  [ D ]
1922-23 –China. Between April 1922 and November 1923 marines were landed five times to protect Americans during periods of unrest.  [ E:41. ]
1924 –Honduras–February 28 to March 31, September 10 to 15. U.S. forces protected American lives and interests during election hostilities.  [ E:96-98. D ]
1924 –China–September. Marines were landed to protect Americans and other foreigners in Shanghai during Chinese factional hostilities.  [ E:42. D ]
1925 –China–January 15 to August 29. Fighting of Chinese factions accompanied by riots and demonstrations in Shanghai brought the landing of American forces to protect lives and property in the International Settlement.  [ E:42. D ]
1925 –Honduras–April 19 to 21. U.S. forces protected foreigners at La Ceiba during a political upheaval.  [ E:98. D ]
1925 –Panama–October 12 to 23. Strikes and rent riots led to the landing of about 600 American troops to keep order and protect American interests.  [ D ]
1926 –China–August and September. The Nationalist attack on Han[kow] brought the landing of American naval forces to protect American citizens. A small guard was maintained at the consulate general even after September 16, when the rest of the forces were withdrawn. Likewise, when Nation forces captured Kiukiang, naval forces were landed for the protection of foreigners November 4 to 6.

[ E:42-43. D:S6958 (order between 1926–China and 1926-33– Nicaragua reversed in Dirksen). ]
1926-33 –Nicaragua–May 7 to June 5, 1926; August 27, 1926, to January 1933. The coup d’etat of General Chamorro aroused revolutionary activities leading to the landing of American marines to protect the interests of United States. United States forces came and went intermittently until January 3, 1933. Their work included activity against the outlaw leader Sandino in 1928.  [Sandino was an “outlaw” to the Americans whose occupation he opposed. To almost all Nicaraguans he was a hero and the Americans were outlaws.]

[ E:129-133. D:S5697. ]
1927–China–February. Fighting at Shanghai caused American naval forces and marines to be increased. In March a naval guard was stationed at American consulate at Nanking after Nationalist forces captured the city. American and British destroyers later used shell fire to protect Americans and other foreigners. Subsequently additional forces of marines and naval forces were stationed in the vicinity of Shanghai and Tientsin. [ D ]
1927-1934- –  China. Garrison, protect foreigners.  [ E:43-45 only. ]

1932 –China. American forces were landed to protect American interests during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai.
1933 –Cuba. During a revolution against President Gerardo Machad[o] naval forces demonstrated but no landing was made.

[ E:64. D ]
1934 –China. Marines landed at Foochow to protect the American Consulate.
1940 –Newfoundland, Bermuda, St. Lucia, – Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad, and British Guiana. Troops were sent to guard air and naval bases obtained by negotiation with Great Britain. These were sometimes called lend-lease bases. [This was another transparent violation of neutrality and support of Great Britain in their war against Germany.] [ D ]
1941 –Greenland. Greenland was taken under protection of the United States in April. [ D ]
1941 –Netherlands (Dutch Guiana). In November the President ordered American troops to occupy Dutch Guiana, but by agreement with the Netherlands government in exile, Brazil cooperated to protect aluminum ore supply from the bauxite mines in Surinam. [ D ]
1941 –Iceland. Iceland was taken under the protection of the United States  [Dirksen reads: “with consent of its government, for strategic reasons.”] [ D ]
1941 –Germany. Sometime in the spring the President ordered the Navy to patrol ship lanes to Europe. By July U.S.  [Dirksen reads “our”] warships were conveying and [by] September were attacking German submarines.  [Dirksen reads: There was no authorization of Congress or declaration of war.”] In November, the Neutrality Act was partially repealed to protect U.S. military aid to Britain  [Dirksen adds “; Russia, etc.”].  [ D ]
1941-45–World War II. On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war with Japan, on December 11 with Germany and Italy, and on June 5, 1942, with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. The United States declared war against Japan after the surprise  [“Surprise”, but only to the American public?] bombing of Pearl Harbor, and against Germany and Italy after those nations, under the dictators Hitler and Mussolini, declared war against the United States.  [ D ]
[Dirksen includes: 1942– Labrador.–Army-Navy air bases established.][ D ]
[With exception of “1950–Korean Action; 1957–Lebanon; 1962– Cuba; 1964–Vietnam” the Dirksen entries end, although prose discussion of these events and others follow for the bulk of 1969:S6958.] [ D ]
1945 –China. In October 50,000 U.S. Marines were sent to North China to assist Chinese Nationalist authorities in disarming and repatriating the Japanese in China and in controlling ports, railroads, and airfields. This was in addition to approximately 60,000 U.S. forces remaining in China at the end of World War II.  [No mention here of anti-Communist assistance is telling.]
1946 –Trieste. President Truman ordered the augmentation of U.S. troops along the zonal occupation line and the reinforcement of air forces in northern Italy after Yugoslav forces shot down an unarmed U.S. Army transport plane flying over Venezia Giulia. Earlier U.S. naval units had been dispatched to the scene.
1948 –Palestine. A marine consular guard was sent to Jerusalem to protect the U.S. Consul General.
1948 –Berlin. After the Soviet Union established a land blockade of the U.S., British, and French sectors of Berlin on June 24, 1948, the United States and its allies airlifted supplies to Berlin until after the blockade was lifted in May 1949.
1948-49 –China. Marines were dispatched to Nanking to protect the American Embassy when the city fell to Communist troops, and to Shanghai to aid in the protection and evacuation of Americans.
1950-53 –Korean War. The United States responded to North Korean invasion of South Korea by going to its assistance, pursuant to United Nations Security Council resolutions.
1950-55 –Formosa (Taiwan). In June 1950 at the beginning of the Korean War, President Truman ordered the U.S. Seventh Fleet to prevent Chinese Communist attacks upon Formosa and Chinese Nationalist operations against mainland China.
[1954–Guatemala –No mention of U.S. Navy (or the CIA and “transferred” U.S. Air Force planes) involvement in the overthrow of the Arbenz government of Guatamala is unjustified by prior criteria.]
1954-55 –China. Naval units evacuated U.S. civilians and military personnel from the Tachen Islands.
1956 –Egypt. A Marine battalion evacuated U.S. nationals and other persons from Alexandria during the Suez crisis.
1958 –Lebanon. Marines were landed in Lebanon at the invitation of its government to help protect against threatened insurrection supported from the outside.
1959-60 –The Caribbean. 2d Marine Ground Task Force was deployed to protect U.S. nationals during the Cuban crisis.
1962 –Cuba. President Kennedy instituted a “quarantine” on the shipment of offensive missiles to Cuba from the Soviet Union. He also warned Soviet Union that the launching of any missile from Cuba against nations in the Western Hemisphere would bring about U.S. nuclear retaliation on the Soviet Union. A negotiated settlement was achieved in a few days.
1962 –Thailand. The 3d Marine Expeditionary Unit landed on May 17, 1962 to support that country during the threat of Communist pressure from outside; by Jul[y] 30 the 5000 marines had been withdrawn.
1962-75 –Laos. From October 1962 until 1976, the United States played a role of military support  [of one side in civil war, also active air and covert troop support] in Laos.
1964 –Congo. The United States sent four transport planes to provide airlift for Congolese troops during a rebellion and to transport Belgian paratroopers to rescue foreigners.
1964-73 –Vietnam War. U.S. military advisers had been in South Vietnam a decade, and their numbers had been increased as the military position the Saigon government became weaker. After the attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Tonkin Gulf, President Johnson asked for a resolution expressing U.S. determination to support freedom and protect peace in Southeast Asia. Congress responded with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, expressing support for “all necessary measures” the President might take to repel armed attacks against U.S. forces and prevent further aggression. Following this resolution, and following a Communist attack on a U.S. installation in central Vietnam, the United States escalated its participation in the war to a peak of 543 000 in April 1969.
1965 –Dominican Republic. The United States intervened to protect lives and property during a Dominican revolt and sent more troops as fears grew that the revolutionary forces were coming increasingly under Communist control.
1967 –Congo. The United States sent three military transport aircraft with crews to provide the Congo central government with logistical support during a revolt.
1970 –Cambodia [After years of illegal bombing and covert troop actions] U.S. troops were ordered into Cambodia to clean out Communist sanctuaries from which Viet Cong and North Vietnamese attacked U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in Vietnam. The object of this attack, which lasted from April 30 to June 30, was to ensure the continuing safe withdrawal of American forces from South Vietnam and to assist the program of Vietnamization.  [U.S.overthrow of the popular Cambodian government and installation of the vicious U.S. puppet general Lon Nol built the almost moribund Khmer Rouge from around 4,000 troops up to over 40,000 volunteers in weeks. The “killing fields” were just one long-term result of our coup.]
1974 –Evacuation from Cyprus. United States naval forces evacuated U.S. civilians during hostilities between Turkish and Greek Cypriot forces.
1975 –Evacuation from Vietnam. On April 3, 1975, President Ford reported U.S. naval vessels, helicopters, and Marines had been sent to assist in evacuation of refugees and U.S. nationals from Vietnam.  (Note 3)
1975 –Evacuation from Cambodia. On April 12, 1975, President Ford reported that he had ordered U.S. military forces to proceed with the planned evacuation of U.S. citizens from Cambodia. [The U.S. also destroyed all motor vehicles in Phnom Pehn, ended all food supplies to the 3-400,000 people our free-fire zone bombing had forced into the city, thus causing starvation, forced march evacuation to areas where there was food, and the “killing fields”.]
1975 –South Vietnam. On April 30 1975, President Ford reported that a force of 70 evacuation helicopters and 865 Marines had evacuated about 1,400 U.S. citizens and 5,500 third country nationals and South Vietnamese from landing zones near the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and the Tan Son Nhut Airfield.
1975 –Mayaguez incident. On May 15, 1975, President Ford reported he had ordered military forces to retake the SS Mayaguez, a merchant vessel en route from Hong Kong to Thailand with U.S. citizen crew which was seized from Cambodian naval patrol boats in  [what we claimed were] international waters and forced to proceed to a nearby island.
1976 –Lebanon. On July 22 and 23, 1974, helicopters from five U.S. naval vessels evacuated approximately 250 Americans and Europeans from Lebanon during fighting between Lebanese factions after an overland convoy evacuation had been blocked by hostilities.
1976 –Korea. Additional forces were sent to Korea after two American military personnel were killed while in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea for the purpose of cutting down a tree.
1978 –Zaire. From May 19 through June 1978, the United States utilized military transport aircraft to provide logistical support to Belgian and French rescue operations in Zaire.
1980 –Iran. On April 26, 1980, President Carter reported the use of six U.S. transport planes and eight helicopters in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue American hostages being held in Iran.
1981 –El Salvador. After a guerilla offensive against the government of El Salvador, additional U.S. military advisers were sent to El Salvador, bringing the total to approximately 55, to assist in training government forces in counterinsurgency.  [U.S. trained and financed counterinsurgency here meant the constant murder of civilians, nuns, priests, Archbishops, etc.]
1981– Libya. On August 19, 1981, U.S. planes based on the carrier Nimitz shot down two Libyan jets over the Gulf of Sidra after one of the Libyan jets had fired a heat-seeking missile. The United States periodically held freedom of navigation exercises in the Gulf of Sidra, claimed by Libya as territorial waters but considered international waters by the United States.
1982 –Sinai. On March 19, 1982, President Reagan reported the deployment of military personnel and equipment to participate in the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai. Participation had been authorized by the Multinational Force and Observers Resolution, Public Law 97-132.
1982 –Lebanon. On August 21, 1982, President Reagan reported the dispatch of 80 marines to serve in the multinational force to assist in the withdrawal of members of the Palestine Liberation force from Beirut. The Marines left Sept. 20, 1982.
1982 –Lebanon. On September 29, 1982, President Reagan reported the deployment of 1200 marines to serve in a temporary multinational force to facilitate the restoration of Lebanese government sovereignty. On Sept. 29, 1983, Congress passed the Multinational Force in Lebanon Resolution (P.L. 98-119) authorizing the continued participation for eighteen months.
1983 –Egypt. After a Libyan plane bombed a city in Sudan on March 18, 1983, and Sudan and Egypt appealed for assistance, the United States dispatched an AWACS electronic surveillance plane to Egypt.
1983-89 –Honduras. In July 1983 the United States undertook a series of exercises in Honduras that some believed might lead to conflict with Nicaragua. On March 25, 1986, unarmed U.S. military helicopters and crewmen ferried Honduran troops to the Nicaraguan border to repel Nicaraguan troops.
1983 –Chad. On August 8, 1983, President Reagan reported the deployment of two AWACS electronic surveillance planes and eight F-15 fighter planes and ground logistical support forces to assist  [one side in the civil war in] Chad against Libyan and rebel  [“rebel” means the side we don’t like] forces.
1983 –Grenada. On October 25, 1983, President Reagan reported a landing on Grenada by Marines and Army airborne troops to protect lives and assist in the restoration of law and order and at the request of five members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States.  [This “restoration of law and order” became necessary after U.S. Seal teams invaded Grenada at night on assassination/disruption missions, which created the “conflict” we then sent in the troops to end.]
1984 –Persian Gulf. On June 5, 1984, Saudi Arabian jet fighter planes, aided by intelligence from a U.S. AWACS electronic surveillance aircraft and fueled by a U.S. KC-10 tanker, shot down two Iranian fighter planes over an area of the Persian Gulf proclaimed as a protected zone for shipping.
1985 –Italy . On October 10, 1985, U.S. Navy pilots intercepted an Egyptian airliner and forced it to land in Sicily. The airliner was carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro who had killed an American citizen during the hijacking.
1986 — Libya. On March 26, 1986, President Reagan reported to Congress that, on March 24 and 25, U.S. forces, while engaged in freedom of navigation exercises around the Gulf of Sidra, had been attacked by Libyan missiles and the United States had responded with missiles.
1986 –Libya. On April 16, 1986, President Reagan reported that U.S. air and naval forces had conducted bombing strikes on terrorist facilities and military installations in Libya.
1986 –Bolivia. U.S. Army personnel and aircraft assisted Bolivia in anti-drug operations.

 

1987-88 –Persian Gulf. After the Iran-Iraq War resulted in several military incidents in the Persian Gulf, the United States increased U.S. Navy forces operating in the Persian Gulf and adopted a policy of reflagging and escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Gulf. President Reagan reported that U.S. ships had been fired upon or struck mines or taken other military action on September 23, October 10, and October 20, 1987 and April 19, July 4, and July 14, 1988. The United States gradually reduced its forces after a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq on August 20, 1988.
1988 –Panama. In mid-March and April 1988, during a period of instability in Panama and as pressure grew for Panamanian military leader General Manuel Noriega to resign, the United States sent 1,000 troops to Panama, to “further safeguard the canal, U.S. lives, property and interests in the area.” The forces supplemented 10,000 U.S. military personnel already in Panama.
1989 –Libya. On January 4, 1989, two U.S. Navy F-14 aircraft based on USS  John F. Kennedy shot down two Libyan jet fighters over the Mediterranean Sea about 70 miles north of Libya. The U.S. pilots said the Libyan planes had demonstrated hostile intentions.
1989 –Panama. On May 11, 1989, in response to General Noriega’s disregard of the results of the Panamanian election, President Bush ordered a brigade- sized force of approximately 1,900 troops to augment the estimated 11,000 U.S. forces already in the area.
1989 –Andean Initiative in War on Drugs. On September 15, 1989, President Bush announced that military and law enforcement assistance would be sent to help the Andean nations of Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru combat illicit drug producers and traffickers. By mid-September there were 50- 100 U.S. military advisers in Colombia in connection with transport and training in the use of military equipment, plus seven Special Forces teams of 2-12 persons to train troops in the three countries.
1989 –Philippines. On December 2, 1989, President Bush reported that on December 1 U.S. fighter planes from Clark Air Base in the Philippines had assisted the Aquino government to repel a coup attempt. In addition, 100 marines were sent from the U.S. Navy base at Subic Bay to protect the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
1989 –Panama. On December 21, 1989, President Bush reported that he had ordered U.S. military forces to Panama to protect the lives of American citizens and bring General Noriega to justice. By February 13, 1990, all the invasion forces had been withdrawn.
1990 –Liberia. On August 6, 1990, President Bush reported that a reinforced rifle company had been sent to provide additional security to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, and that helicopter teams had evacuated U.S. citizens from Liberia. [Marines were left aboard ship off the coast of Liberia until the start of active conflict in Kuwait, when they were sent to the Gulf. Despite the presence of our troops, the U.S. did absolutely nothing to end the civil war and genocide occurring in Liberia after having pumped one-half billion dollars in military aid into the country in the previous decade, turning it into a tinderbox waiting to explode.]
1990 –Saudi Arabia. On August 9, 1990, President Bush reported that he had ordered the forward deployment of substantial elements of the U.S. armed forces into the Persian Gulf region to help defend Saudi Arabia after the August 2 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. On November 16, 1990, he reported the continued buildup of the forces to ensure an adequate offensive military option.
1991 –Iraq. On January 18, 1991, President Bush reported that he had directed U.S. armed forces to commence combat operations on January 16 against Iraqi forces and military targets in Iraq and Kuwait, in conjunction with a coalition of allies and U.N. Security Council resolutions. On January 12 Congress had passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq Resolution (P.L. 102-1). Combat operations were suspended on February 28, 1991.
1991 –Iraq. On May 17, 1991, President Bush stated in a status report to Congress that the Iraqi repression of the Kurdish people had necessitated a limited introduction of U.S. forces into northern Iraq for emergency relief purposes.
1991 –Zaire. On September 25-27, 1991, after widespread looting and rioting broke out in Kinshasa, U.S. Air Force C-141s transported 100 Belgian troops and equipment into [Ki]nshasa. U.S. planes also carried 300 French troops into the Central African Republic and hauled back American citizens and third country nationals from locations outside Zaire.
1992 –Sierra Leone. On May 3, 1992, U.S. military planes evacuated Americans from Sierra Leone, where military leaders had overthrown the government.
1992 –Kuwait. On August 3, 1992, the United States began a series of military exercises in Kuwait, following Iraqi refusal to recognize a new border drawn up by the United Nations and refusal to cooperate with U.N. inspection teams.  [The new border, clearly drawn in favor of the Saudis, divides what had been internationally recognized for decades as irreconcilable claims. This gives Iraq a causa belli for the coming centuries.]
1992 –Iraq. On September 16, 1992 President Bush stated in a status report that he had ordered U.S. participation in the enforcement of a prohibition against Iraqi flights in a specified zone in southern Iraq, and aerial reconnaissance to monitor Iraqi compliance with the cease-fire resolution.
1992 –the former Yugoslavia/Balkans . In December 1992, President Bush begins the insertion of American forces into the former Yugoslavia. This was a total abandonment of his own “Bush Doctrine” (that the U.S. would never again send troops into a situation without a clear “exit strategy” and/or definition of victory, as we had in Vietnam). It also was the first step of his cynically leaving the incoming Clinton administration in a morass of no-win military commitments which could only benefit the Republicans politically. (I published on his hypocritical abandonment of policy in December 1992. gct)]
1992 –Somalia. On December 10, 1992, President Bush reported that he had deployed U.S. armed forces to Somalia in response to a humanitarian crisis and a U.N. Security Council Resolution determining that the situation constituted a threat to international peace. This operation, called Operation Restore Hope, was part of a U.S.-led United Nations Unified Task Force (UNITAF) and came to an end on May 4, 1993. U.S. forces continued to participate in the successor United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II), which the U.N. Security Council authorized to assist Somalia in political reconciliation and restoration of peace.
1993 –Iraq. On January 19, 1993, President Bush said in a status report that on December 27, 1992, U.S. aircraft shot down an Iraqi aircraft in the prohibited zone; on January 13 aircraft from the United States and coalition partners had attacked missile bases in southern Iraq; and further military actions had occu[r]red on January 17 and 18. Administration officials said the United States was deploying a battalion task force to Kuwait to underline the continuing U.S. commitment to Kuwaiti independence.
1993 –Iraq. On January 21, 1993, shortly after his inauguration, President Clinton said the United States would continue the Bush policy on Iraq, and U.S. aircraft fired at targets in Iraq after pilots sensed Iraqi radar or anti-aircraft fire directed at them.
1993 –Bosnia-Hercegovina. On February 28, 1993, the United States b[e]gan an airdrop of relief supplies aimed at Muslims surrounded by Serbian forces in Bosnia.
1993 –Bosnia-Hercegovina. On April 13, 1993, President Clinton reported U.S. forces were participating in a NATO air action to enforce a U.N. ban on all unauthorized military flights over Bosnia-Hercegovina.
1993 –Iraq. In a status report on Iraq of May 24, President Clinton said that on April 9 and April 18 U.S. warplanes had bombed or fired missiles at Iraqi anti-aircraft sites which had tracked U.S. a[i]rcraft.
1993 –Somalia. On June 10, 1993, President Clinton reported that in response to attacks against U.N. forces in Somalia by a factional leader, the U.S. Quick Reaction Force in the area had participated in military action to quell the violence. The quick reaction force was part of the U.S. contribution to a success On July 1, President Clinton reported further air and ground military operations on June 12 and June 17 aimed at neutralizing military capabilities that had impeded U.N. efforts to deliver humanitarian relief and promote national reconstruction, and additional instances occurred in the following months.
1993 –Iraq. On June 28, 1993, President Clinton reported that on June 26 U.S. naval forces had launched missiles against the Iraqi Intelligence Service’s headquarters in Baghdad in response to an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate former President Bush in Kuwait in April 1993.
1993 –Iraq. In a status report of July 22, 1993, President Clinton said on June 19 a U.S. aircraft had fired a missile at an Iraqi anti-aircraft site displaying hostile intent. U.S. planes also bombed an Iraqi missile battery on August 19, 1993.
1993 –Macedonia. On July 9, 1993, President Clinton reported the deployment of 350 U.S. armed forces to Macedonia to participate in the U.N. Protection Force to help maintain stability in the area of former Yugoslavia.


([Collier] Note 1.) This list through 1975 is reprinted with few changes from: U.S. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations [now Foreign Affairs]. Subcommittee on International Security and Scientific Affairs. Background Information on the Use of U.S. Armed Forces in Foreign Countries, 1975 Revision. Committee print, 94th Congress, 1st session. Prepared by the Foreign Affairs Division, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975. 84 p. [ D ]
([Collier] Note 2.) Other lists include: Goldwater, Senator Barry. “War Without Declaration. A Chronological List of 199 U.S. Military Hostilities Abroad Without a Declaration of War. 1798-1972”. Congressional Record, V. 119, July 20, 1973: S14174-14183; U.S. Department of State. “Armed Actions Taken by the United States Without a Declaration of War, 1789-1967”. Research Project 806A. Historical Studies Division. Bureau of Public Affairs; Collins, John M. “America’s Small Wars”. New York, Brassey’s, 1990; For a discussion of the evolution of lists of military actions and legal authorization for various actions, see Wormuth, Francis D. and Edwin B. Firmage,  To Chain the Dog of War; the War Power of Congress in History and Law . Dallas, Southern Methodist University Press, 1986. p. 133-149.  [ D ]
([Collier] Note 3.) This and subsequent mentions of Presidential reports refer to reports the President has submitted to Congress that might be considered pursuant to the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 91-148, November 7, 1973). For a discussion of the War Powers Resolution and various types of reports required under it, see “The War Powers Resolution: Eighteen Years of Experience”, CRS Report 92-133 F; or “The War Powers Resolution: Presidential Compliance”, CRS Issue Brief IB81050, updated regularly.

12 September 1997

 



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