[Peace-discuss] What we've done

[C. G. Estabrook]

The Financial Times reported this week on the 2008 “Failed States Index,” which 
is produced by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace. The index ranks 
177 states according to 12 social, economic, political, and military indicators, 
based on data from more than 30,000 publicly available sources.  We should 
notice something about what are called “the world's most troubled nations”:

The five states most at risk of failure are said to be Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, 
Chad and Iraq.  Except for Zimbabwe, they are states that have attracted intense 
U.S. ministrations.

The FT writes, “Fifth place goes to Iraq. This is an improvement on last year, 
when it was ranked as the second most unstable country ... However, Iraq's gains 
do not reflect long-term, fundamental changes, according to the report's 
authors. 'The desperate predicament of 4m refugees at home and abroad, the 
abysmal state of public services, and the discord among sectarian factions have 
shown no real improvement,' according to the Index.”

The top five are followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, 
Ivory Coast, and Pakistan.  Again, two of the four – Afghanistan and Pakistan -- 
are places that Barack Obama says he intends to attack militarily.  Next are the 
Central African Republic, Guinea, Bangladesh, Burma, Haiti and North Korea.

Israel's low score - it ranks 58th on the list - reflects, in the words of the 
report, "deteriorating security in the West Bank, the country's sharp economic 
disparities, political stalemates, ongoing violence, and its failure to fully 
integrate its Arab minority." Naturally it's able to do all of this only because 
the U.S. permits it and pays for it.

All this reminded me of a statement from more than forty years ago from one of 
the two men who almost convinced me to join the Marine Corps' PLC (a sort of 
Marine ROTC) while I was in college (and before I had heard the word “Vietnam”) 
-- Gen. David Shoup, World War II Medal of Honor recipient and the twenty-second 
Commandant of the United States Marine Corps (1960–1963):

"I believe if we had, and would, keep our dirty, bloody, dollar-crooked fingers 
out of the business of these nations so full of depressed, exploited people, 
they will arrive at a solution of their own. That they design and want. That 
they fight and work for...and not the American style, which they don't want. Not 
one crammed down their throats by the Americans."

--CGE