U.S. the least self-serving great power in history
column
Brendan Wolfe
Issue date: 2/25/03 Section: Opinion
The U.S. is without question the single least self-serving great power in the history of humankind. No other nation of comparable strength has refrained from conquering large sections of the world, or has demonstrated such wholehearted willingness to help the less fortunate. The U.S. is the world's largest donor of foreign aid: Millions of the impoverished around the world depend upon it for sustenance, and are not disappointed.
The U.S., through the judicious use of its military might, has been the great guarantor of freedom for the past 60 years. America was instrumental in the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. It remained steadfast throughout the Cold War, preserving the peoples of Western Europe from enslavement, and eventually by its resolve rescuing the oppressed of Poland, Czechoslovakia and other nations too numerous to name from Communism's grip.
Western civilization, which bequeathed individual liberty to the world, is under attack in our times, not by the entirety of another civilization, but by a deranged, tyrannical fragment. Dictators in Iraq, North Korea and Iran, and oppressors such as Osama and Arafat hope to prevent the spread of freedom from our society to their own. Meanwhile, misguided fifth-columnists are at work within the West, such as those organizing massive demonstrations against the U.S. liberation of Iraq. The U.S. is the unquestioned leader in the fight to preserve the free, Western way of life, and to extend it to all who desire liberty. As long as this remains the case, I will back them to the hilt.
The U.S., through the judicious use of its military might, has been the great guarantor of freedom for the past 60 years. America was instrumental in the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. It remained steadfast throughout the Cold War, preserving the peoples of Western Europe from enslavement, and eventually by its resolve rescuing the oppressed of Poland, Czechoslovakia and other nations too numerous to name from Communism's grip.
Western civilization, which bequeathed individual liberty to the world, is under attack in our times, not by the entirety of another civilization, but by a deranged, tyrannical fragment. Dictators in Iraq, North Korea and Iran, and oppressors such as Osama and Arafat hope to prevent the spread of freedom from our society to their own. Meanwhile, misguided fifth-columnists are at work within the West, such as those organizing massive demonstrations against the U.S. liberation of Iraq. The U.S. is the unquestioned leader in the fight to preserve the free, Western way of life, and to extend it to all who desire liberty. As long as this remains the case, I will back them to the hilt.
