The answer to your question is: It was the Bush Doctrine, a United States foreign policy that former President George W. Bush promised to enforce. It was our current President Barrack Obama who stopped this United States policy to be implemented.
The us foreign policy doctrine that bush promise to enforce is The Iraq invasion. Bush believed that Saddam Hussein held a mass murdering weapons that he hide in Iraq. Based on this beliefs, he sent U.S military army to invade iraq
In general yes, the states honored their agreement since the Articles of Confederation demanded practically nothing from the states--meaning that it wasn't hard for the states to uphold their end of the bargain.
