The idea said:
Is the USA the most important country in the world and therefore any war involving the USA is extremely important or is there some other reason for the huge amount of attention on this forum and elsewhere focused on the war in Iraq?
Most of us live in Western democracies. Our opinions are influenced to a degree by what we see in the media. Of the world's wars, the ones we hear about are:
- Iraq, lots
- Israel/Palestine, lots
- Chechnya, some
- Various African wars, from time to time
The reason why wars are reported include:
- Are we directly involved ?
- Are we indirectly involved ?
- Is a ally involved ?
- Is a foe or former foe involved ?
- Are lots of people dying
Probably in that order. If a British soldier in Iraq sprains an ankle it probably is viewed to be a more important story than a few dozen killed in a war in a country that was never part of the Empire.
The reason we talk about Iraq so much is becuase it's big news and so many of us have easy access to information on it (and hence can more readily substantiate our opinions). The reason why it's so prominent in the media worldwide is that almost every country is either:
- involved directly
- allied to a country involved directly
- vocal in their opposition
No mystery there then. OTOH if you feel that the world is picking on the USofA because we're jealous of your power and your freedom, carry on believing it and that it's the only reason we talk about Iraq is that we're secretly (or perhaps not so secretly eh ?) happy that American servicemen are dying out there and that it represents a bloody nose for the US