Um, they were fighting Argentina. They didn’t need our help.
Yeah, but Jewish girls are SO HOT!
Has anyone mentioned Guam? It’s like Puerto Rico but has a more important military function to the U.S. right? But it’s in the grey area of not counting since it is a part of the U.S. in the same way Puerto Rico is? I’m not sure.
So we don’t show favoritism, even to ourselves! USA! USA! USA!
Corporations run the US government. And corporations are not people.
Guam is the same as Puerto Rico - an unincorporated US territory.
What is metric for “best”?
Seriously, I can’t parse the question.
That is bullshit. While citizens have much political power, there is a combination of special interests (which include labour unions and leftist pressure groups not just corporations) that has tremendous and I believe unhealthy influence.
No love for Lichtenstein?
Seriously, don’t forget Ireland.
Ireland?? They were neutral in WWII.
True, but they sent us many immigrents and are very friendly.
I’m not sure “lots of immigrants” is a relevant measure. China sends us lots of immigrants.
Just a thought.
I was just channeling a line from the latest Archer TV show episode. It was funny, and I’m not sure I even knew about Irish neutrality before that. I probably forgot.
Do you consider sinking the Liberty a “friendly fire” incident? I don’t.
Why?
Just a day before the Israeli Air Force had bombed and IDF Armored column and was in the midst of a war against three Arab nations trying to destroy her.
Accidents do happen.
That was the conclusion of the US Navy investigation.
http://www.thelibertyincident.com/docs/CourtOfInquiry.pdf(PDF).
Do you think it’s only the American military who make such mistakes?
Has anybody yet mentioned the First Special Service Force? This was a joint US-Canada force, formed in WWII, that fought together, during that conflict. I live a stone’s throw from the highway that the Canadians took to travel to meet their American counterparts for initial training at Helena, Montana: Alberta Highway 4, which becomes US Interstate 15 south of the 49th parallel. The road, on both sides of the border, has been designated as the “First Special Service Force Memorial Highway.”
That two different countries can come together to form a single military unit ought to mean something, in terms of this discussion. Neither Israelis, nor British, nor French, nor Australians were involved in this force–just Americans and Canadians, fighting together, in a single unit. With all due respect to our non-North American friends, I would suggest that the best friend that the US has, is Canada.
USS Liberty wasn’t sunk. You should perhaps learn a little more about the incident if you got that rather significant fact wrong.
You are correct, the Liberty wasn’t sunk, though not for lack of trying by IDF. If I had thought twice about it I should have said attacked. The fate of the ship was not topmost on my mind. The wholesale carnage among the crew left an indelible impression on me, as I knew one of the survivors.
Strange, one would have thought that if it wasn’t friendly fire and they were actually nefariously trying to sink it, they would’ve been using anti-ship and not anti-infantry weaponry.
No, because no British, Fench, or Austrailians have ever been involved in joint forces with the US…
If the argument is military cooperation, then let’s look at the most recent war, Iraq. If you could point out Canada’s participation in this chart, I’d be grateful.
United States: 150,000 invasion 165,000 peak-(withdrawn 12/11)
United Kingdom: 46,000 invasion (withdrawn 5/11)
Australia: 2,000 invasion (withdrawn 7/09)
Romania: 730 peak (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 7/09)
El Salvador: 380 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 1/09)
Estonia: 40 troops (deployed 6/05-withdrawn 1/09)
Bulgaria: 485 peak (deployed 5/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Moldova: 24 peak (deployed 9/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Albania: 240 troops (deployed 4/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Ukraine: 1,650 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Denmark: 545 peak (deployed 4/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Czech Republic: 300 peak (deployed 12/03-withdrawn 12/08)
South Korea: 3,600 peak (deployed 5/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Japan: 600 troops (deployed 1/04-withdrawn 12/08)
Tonga: 55 troops (deployed 7/04-withdrawn 12/08)
Azerbaijan: 250 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Singapore: 175 offshore (deployed 12/03-withdrawn 12/08)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 85 peak (deployed 6/05-withdrawn 11/08)
Macedonia: 77 peak (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 11/08)
Latvia: 136 peak (deployed 5/03-withdrawn 11/08)
Poland: 200 invasion—2,500 peak (withdrawn 10/08)
Kazakhstan: 29 troops (deployed 9/03-withdrawn 10/08)
Armenia: 46 troops (deployed 1/05-withdrawn 10/08)
Mongolia: 180 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 09/08)
Georgia: 2,000 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 8/08)
So, a country 1/6th the size of the US sent nearly 1/3 of the number of troops the US did? Twice per capita? Screwed our economy, funeral parades through our towns. Yet Canada is the best ally because a thousand troops worked with the US once?
My objection is that whenever someone thanks a US soldier “for their service” they should thank a British soldier twice.