Really? Pakistan is the Most Dangerous Country in the World?

“Iraq for Sale – The War Profiteers”, “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price”, “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” – Robert Greenwald and his company Brave New Films do impressive work, and I have counted myself as a fan. And as such, today it is with great reluctance that I question his approach for his newest endeavor: “Rethink Afghanistan”.

A friend e-mailed me about this and I immediately dug in, and found this headline, “Pakistan, the Most Dangerous Country in the World”. There were a couple of video trailers of various scholars, diplomats, military folks who gave sound bites about how no one should rattle this country, and how the fate of Afghanistan and Pakistan are inextricably linked.

I am an east-Indian and routinely have to remind myself that there are real people living in Pakistan and not monsters, since as a child of parents who barely survived the partition, I’ve been genetically programmed to be hostile to this country. And even I was rattled. Why is that we are outraged when President Bush declares a few countries to be the axis-of-evil, and yet when a progressive declares a country to be the “Most Dangerous Country in the World”, we remain silent? We even might start thinking, wow, this must be truth.

As Mr. Greenwald investigates and rethinks Afghanistan, I want to urge him to consider the following in his new documentary. I want him to challenge his viewers to ponder this question:

“When the United States of America spends more on manufacturing killing paraphernalia than the rest of the world combined, could it be that we are the most dangerous country in the world”?

To make sure that people really understood, he could use the following image to show how our defense spending is almost MORE THAN THE REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED. (Link Here to see the picture below more clearly)


I would like him to investigate this question: Since in the above pie chart Pakistan is not even a sliver, and yet it is awash in arms, where are those arms coming from? Could they be from the five members of the U.N. Security Council, who together manufacture 80 percent of the world’s arms? Does that not beg the question: Are the five members of the Security Council the most dangerous countries in the world?

Mogadeshu, Dafur, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq – all countries in heavy conflict and heavily armed. Where are these arms coming from?

Why is it that our drug policy is to spend billions to try and stop the supply and not the demand, but when it comes to our arms policy it is not applicable?

Please consider the following facts:

Since 1992, the United States has exported more than $142 billion dollars worth of weaponry to states around the world.[1] The U.S. dominates this international arms market, supplying just under half of all arms exports in 2001, roughly two and a half times more than the second and third largest suppliers. [2 ] U.S. weapons sales help outfit non-democratic regimes, soldiers who commit gross human rights abuses against their citizens and citizens of other countries, and forces in unstable regions on the verge of, in the middle of, or recovering from conflict.

The United States military has had to face troops previously trained by its own military or supplied with U.S. weaponry in Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, and now in Afghanistan. Due to the advanced capabilities these militaries have acquired from past U.S. training and sales, the U.S. had to invest much more money and manpower in these conflicts than would have otherwise been needed.

I have ranted on in my living room about the military industrial complex, and one day my step-son asked me to explain the concept to him using simple language. I thought a bit and used the analogy of a farmer growing potatoes and selling them. I asked him why I would keep on buying potatoes. He laughed and said, because you love them so much, you keep eating them up. I said, similarly, if someone makes money by selling arms, why would someone keep on buying more and more? His laughter died as the puzzle fell into place and he whispered, because they keep using them up.

My request to Mr. Greenwald is to also address this side of the equation, how the supply of arms, more and more and more arms to Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan is affecting the stability of this region, and then to again ask the question, “Just who is the most dangerous country in the world”?