OneWorld.net (U.S.)

I enjoyed Nicole Olsen's "Peaceful Ranking" article. I was not surprised to see the USA near the bottom of the rankings. Having extensively traveled/backpacked around the world from 1987-1993, with New Zealand being the first of around 45 countries I traveled, I must agree that it, and most other countries around the world, are much more peaceful to travel than ours. The average citizen of most foreign countries is much more informed and knowledgeable of world politics, geography, cultures, religion, etc... than the average American. Not only can the average foreign citizen quickly name the heads of state of countries around the world, they can also name the USA's V.Pres. and Sec. of State. The majority of Americans can't even name our V.P and Sec. of State, let alone the leaders of other countries or even the heads of state of our bordering countries, Canada and Mexico! Actually, many can't even name our own bordering countries. The sad irony of this is that I actually learned more about the USA and world politics while traveling abroad than all my years of schooling and college. If American citizens were as worldly knowledgeable and informed as citizens of most other countries, then we most likely would not be at war. Had Americans been knowledgeable of Iraq in terms of culture, religion, politics and geography it would have been obvious that invading them to promote democracy would most likely cause more damage than good. Is there a way to obtain a list of the rankings of the 121 countries? Also, I noticed Iceland was not included in this ranking. Do you know why, as they would probably have ranked in the top 3, if not #1. Sincerely, Carol Reinhard Sandusky, Ohio USA

Editor's Note: The 'Peacefulness Ranking' story can be found here. The Global Peace Index -- the full rankings to which Carol refers -- is here.