The War Against America
A recent article was published in the print media about the reaction towards the US accidental shooting of the Italian agents who rescued the journalist. I won't restate her words, but in short, she wasn't buying the American story of the shooting being accidental.
First, and most importantly, her statement that "war is war" and that human life is not worth anything to American soldiers is absolutely ludicrous. Our war history could be argued as the most humane of any nation in the world. In World War II, German soldiers surrendered to US soldiers because our POW's were treated better than they were in their own camps. We are a nation that doesn't leave fallen soldiers behind. We are a nation in which our soldiers adopt children orphaned due to the war. Not valuing human life? Again, we are a nation that brought about a fairly peaceful end to the Cold War. We were a nation that developed smart bombs so that we would minimize damage to innocent civilians.
Second, recent polls show that many Europeans do not support the US "exporting" of democracy. I suspect that most of these Europeans surveyed that oppose US efforts are of the younger generation, i.e. the generation that does not remember World War 2, the subsequent rebuilding of Europe, and the Cold War. It is a generation that forgot about Nazism, Fascism, and Communism. It is a generation that has forgotten that US "exporting" of democracy has allowed them the be democratic. With the exception of Great Britain, the US may have played the pivotal role in their nations being democratic and free societies. Imagine, ahd the United States not become involved in World War II, Germany may still be living under Nazism (granted, that is highly unlikely, but it may only have come out Nazism in the last twenty years or so, and be similar to Russia with a shattered infrastructure and economy), France may be only recovering from a despotic state. Or worse yet, they may be in the same economic plight that have haunted the former Eastern Soviet bloc, as without US involvement in World War II, who is to say the Soviets would not have taken over all of Europe. History shows that they had great momentum heading into Germany, and without a Western Front confronting Russia, they may have been the lone Allied power to liberate France and Italy.
Finally, much of Europe seems to think America is an inhumane place. Really, who are they kidding? Imagine Germany without a Marshall Plan? Imagine if we had not airlifted supplies to Berlin. Imagine France, Germany, and Italy without American dollars pouring into those nations to help in the rebuilding process.
Frankly, it is not a surprise that many of our strongest European allies are many of the Eastern European nations. They are the nations that have the most recent exposure to the United States exporting democracy. They may not have the most soldiers or the most well-equipped military, but they are some of our strongest public supporters. It disappoints me that most of Western Europe is so anti-American. Next time, maybe we should just let them burn each other down.
First, and most importantly, her statement that "war is war" and that human life is not worth anything to American soldiers is absolutely ludicrous. Our war history could be argued as the most humane of any nation in the world. In World War II, German soldiers surrendered to US soldiers because our POW's were treated better than they were in their own camps. We are a nation that doesn't leave fallen soldiers behind. We are a nation in which our soldiers adopt children orphaned due to the war. Not valuing human life? Again, we are a nation that brought about a fairly peaceful end to the Cold War. We were a nation that developed smart bombs so that we would minimize damage to innocent civilians.
Second, recent polls show that many Europeans do not support the US "exporting" of democracy. I suspect that most of these Europeans surveyed that oppose US efforts are of the younger generation, i.e. the generation that does not remember World War 2, the subsequent rebuilding of Europe, and the Cold War. It is a generation that forgot about Nazism, Fascism, and Communism. It is a generation that has forgotten that US "exporting" of democracy has allowed them the be democratic. With the exception of Great Britain, the US may have played the pivotal role in their nations being democratic and free societies. Imagine, ahd the United States not become involved in World War II, Germany may still be living under Nazism (granted, that is highly unlikely, but it may only have come out Nazism in the last twenty years or so, and be similar to Russia with a shattered infrastructure and economy), France may be only recovering from a despotic state. Or worse yet, they may be in the same economic plight that have haunted the former Eastern Soviet bloc, as without US involvement in World War II, who is to say the Soviets would not have taken over all of Europe. History shows that they had great momentum heading into Germany, and without a Western Front confronting Russia, they may have been the lone Allied power to liberate France and Italy.
Finally, much of Europe seems to think America is an inhumane place. Really, who are they kidding? Imagine Germany without a Marshall Plan? Imagine if we had not airlifted supplies to Berlin. Imagine France, Germany, and Italy without American dollars pouring into those nations to help in the rebuilding process.
Frankly, it is not a surprise that many of our strongest European allies are many of the Eastern European nations. They are the nations that have the most recent exposure to the United States exporting democracy. They may not have the most soldiers or the most well-equipped military, but they are some of our strongest public supporters. It disappoints me that most of Western Europe is so anti-American. Next time, maybe we should just let them burn each other down.
posted by Kenn at 9:17 PM
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