Thursday, June 07, 2007
Opinion

06/10/07 LEFT/RIGHT: We fight, so they don’t have to

We fight, so they don’t have to By Eric Von Haessler Step right up, folks, and help yourself to the latest example of America-bashing on the world stage. The newest international study to c...

Does anyone really believe the Canadian Mounties could defend a country? They don’t have to—they have us. Comedian Jim Carrey (center) stands with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) after unveiling his star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in 2004. CREDIT: Donald Weber/Getty Images

We fight, so they don’t have to
By Eric Von Haessler

Step right up, folks, and help yourself to the latest example of America-bashing on the world stage. The newest international study to condemn the United States is a doozie. Not only is it wrong, but it also reveals the distorted priorities and the level of delusion that inform the thinking of peaceniks worldwide.

Something called the Global Peace Index, a creation of the Economist Intelligence Unit, has released a ranking of nations based on their supposed peacefulness.

Norway leads the way, ranked No. 1 as the most peaceful of nations. And surprise, surprise—the good ol’ U. S. of A. clocked
in at 96th of the 121 listed, squeezed in between Yemen and Iran.

According to Global Peace Index President Clyde McConaghy, “the objective of the Global Peace Index was to go beyond a crude measure of wars by systemically exploring the texture of peace.”

What? According to Reuters, he went on to say that this first of what will surely become a yearly study shows that “peace can and has and will continue to be measured.” Huh?

Apparently, 24 different factors—including the ease with which citizens can acquire “weapons of minor destruction” (guns, small explosives), as well as total “military expenditure, local corruption ... level of respect for human rights,” blah, blah, blah—went into determining each nation’s ranking. The upshot is that, after the data was compiled and examined for patterns identifying the “drivers” of peace, America barely made it into the top 100, while Japan and Germany are sitting pretty at Nos. 5 and 12, respectively.

One wonders if it occurs to any of the geniuses at these institutions of peace that those two stalwarts of global tranquility share a common history? Namely, that they were both brutally beaten into submission by the ungodly war machine known as the United States of America in the middle of the last century. What escapes these surveyors of global serenity is that peace isn’t always a natural state. It quite often has to be created by a military force willing to forgo a temporary peace today in order to insure a lasting peace for tomorrow.

The Japanese didn’t come to their current docile nature by happenstance. The Japanese were historically warlike until Harry S. Truman forced them into humility by obliterating two of their major cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the most powerful weapon known to man, the atomic bomb. The fact that he had to wipe out a second city before a surrender was offered should give some insight into the dominant spirit of the citizens who are now perceived as the fifth most peaceful in the world.

And Germany—do I really have to go there? We’d all be sprechen sie Deutsch if not for the warmongering maniacs from the 96th-ranked nation on this dubious list.

Other top 10 notables include Canada and New Zealand, countries that, although this little fact is not mentioned by the authors of the index, basically live under the protection of militaries not of their own making. Canada doesn’t need a legitimate fighting force of its own. It already has one: the U.S. military. It’s the American military that guarantees trouble for any erstwhile invader of the mellow maple leaf nation, not the adorable Mounties in their sharp uniforms.

Likewise, New Zealanders relax beneath the protection of Australia (ranked No. 25), which itself garners a great deal of defensive support from Great Britain (No. 49).

Peace is not a natural state of affairs disturbed only by mean people who like to blow things up. History shows that lasting peace is an oxymoronic ideal that must be fought for and secured by nations willing and able to sacrifice blood and money to do so. Here’s hoping America tumbles a few more positions before the release of next year’s Global Peace Index. A truly peaceful world depends on it. SP

Eric Von Haessler, formerly of the Regular Guys, is a frequent radio commentator in Atlanta.