The United States' policy of containment wasn't just military, it was ideological. Back then, we pointed out the differences between Soviet Communism and Communism around the world to weaken the power of its rhetoric, and additionally we appeared to be more successful and had a better standard of living than communists. Today, we can point out the difference between Islamic terrorism and moderate Islam, to degrade support for Islamic terrorism and make it defeat itself by containing enabling states (as Islamic terrorism is supported by enabling states) perhaps via economic incentives,and stopping our support of dictatorships, winning over those in danger of becoming Islamic terrorists. We also built up a system of allies with our containment policy regarding the Soviet Union, which helped isolate the Soviet Union. We can build up support among allies to support us in isolating states that are enablers of Islamic terrorism as well.
Because of the country's strong presence on the water with its ships and naval command.
