Give Peace A Chance

Mexican-American War: We started this war, took a large part of Texas and all of California from Mexico. 37,000 people died. American Civil War: Roughly 600,000 people died. Blacks remained oppressed for another 100 years. Could have been prevented (and the Union preserved) if the North had voted for Douglas rather than Lincoln. Slavery might have ended more peacefully, as it did in Brazil 20 years later. Spanish-American War: The U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, which many now think was the result of an accident. We went to war against Spain and took many of their possessions. 7,500 people died. And here’s where the numbers get really crazy: Philippine-American War: We fought to keep the Philippines in the Union and won. About 600,000 dead. World War I: A European war involving mutual aggression by both sides. We decided to get involved, in part because we had loaned Britain tons of money. 121,000 Americans died. 14 million Europeans died. Would the world have been worse-off if Germany had won? World War II: The only war we’ve been involved in that wasn’t a war of choice. I’ll give it to you. Korean War: Although begun by a North Korean invasion, the main casualties of the war came after we reinvaded. 54,000 Americans, 2.5 million Koreans, 1 million Chinese dead for our “proxy” war. In Pyongyang, where 400,000 people once lived, two buildings were left standing. Vietnam War: 60,000 Americans, 3 million Vietnamese and 600,000 Cambodians dead. Persian Gulf War: Saddam invaded Kuwait, and we attacked him. About 25,000 deaths total. Our subsequent sanctions impoverished Iraq, once a relatively wealthy nation. 500,000 children died as a result. Iraq War: Who can say? This does not include the numerous police actions, such as the occupation of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, covert operations and Indian wars. We chose to get involved in every one of these wars except World War II. Except for the Mexican-American war, most of these wars didn’t even benefit us. I realize hindsight is 20/20. I’m only using America as an example, but nearly all industrialized countries have a history of aggression and slaughter. History keeps telling us the same thing over and over again; that war rarely leads to anything good. When will we listen to it? These columns have been a lot less funny since Rahul adopted a tone of moral stridency. Email him at rahkan@stanford.edu to complain. Article URL: http://www.stanforddaily.com/tempo?page=content&repository=0001_article&id=17051

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