In his new book, MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan makes the case that diversity is a weakness, not a strength, for America. In his chapter “The Diversity Cult,” Buchanan takes issue with Gen. George W. Casey for his 2007 statement, “I firmly believe the strength of our Army comes from our diversity.”
Buchanan asks in response, “Where is the empirical evidence behind General Casey's assertion ... Is the diverse army of today really superior to Lee's Army of Northern Virginia that resisted the Union's mighty Army of the Potomac for four years? Is it superior to the U.S. Army that went ashore at Normandy?”
Buchanan adds: “What General Casey seems to be saying is that the strength of the U.S. Army stems from the fact that we now have a smaller share of white male soldiers. Does anyone really believe that?”
From Buchanan's book Suicide Of A Superpower:
Where is the empirical evidence behind General Casey's assertion that “the strength of our Army comes from our diversity”? Is the diverse army of today really superior to Lee's Army of Northern Virginia that resisted the Union's mighty Army of the Potomac for four years? Is it superior to the U.S. Army that went ashore at Normandy? How so? Where is the evidence that an army enhances its strength when its enlisted ranks and officer corps become a mosaic of white, black, Asian, Hispanic, male, female, straight, and gay soldiers?
No one would say a surgical team or hockey team or debating team was superior because it included people of all races and ethnic groups. We would judge each team by its performance. What General Casey seems to be saying is that the strength of the U.S. Army stems from the fact that we now have a smaller share of white male soldiers. Does anyone really believe that? [Pat Buchanan, Suicide Of A Superpower: Will America Survive To 2025?, 2011, pp. 247]
But when Casey offered the statement in 2007, he cited a recent example of diversity helping the Army. The Army News Service reported of Casey's comments:
The chief of staff recalled from his time in Iraq how he was often asked by Iraqi leaders, 'how do you have a squad like that... with people from all races and genders operating so well together?'
“I will tell you that I firmly believe the strength of our Army comes from our diversity,” Gen. Casey said, adding that the example of the U.S. Army has helped the Iraqi army bring together Sunni and Shiite Moslems to work with Kurds and other nationalities as a team.
The example of how U.S. Soldiers of different nationalities work together “has really helped the Iraqi Army retain it's role as the only non-sectarian organization in that whole country,” Gen. Casey said, “so if you're looking for the impact of the strength, the diversity of an organization, look no further than that.”
In a 2008 interview with American Forces Press Service, Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle offered another recent, concrete reason why diversity is important for the armed forces:
“We tend to think rather narrowly about diversity sometimes -- it's a black-white or it's a Hispanic-black-white issue. It's not,” Rochelle said in an interview at the Pentagon.
“Diversity is a national security issue and one that every one of us should be concerned about, frankly, because it is a force multiplier for our soldiers,” he said.
In 2002, as the Army was preparing for the possibility of war in Iraq, the Army's recruiting command was given the mission to recruit Arabic linguists that would be needed for troops on the ground to communicate with local citizens. But the service couldn't recruit and train them fast enough, said Rochelle, who headed the command from 2002 to 2005
“We were somewhat ill-prepared to do that, and it took quite a long time to spin the system up to the point of where we are today,” he said.
The Army now has nearly 1,000 Arabic linguists in its ranks, Rochelle said. But this is nearly six years into the war, and the Army needs to be prepared for the next point of conflict, he said.
During a 2008 appearance on MSNBC, an “offended” Buchanan falsely claimed only “white males” died at the battles of Gettysburg and Normandy. In reality, “nearly 2,000” African-Americans took part in the Normandy invasion, at least some of whom apparently died as a result, and at least one woman and one African-American were reportedly killed in the Gettysburg campaign.
In 2007, Buchanan penned a column headlined, “The Dark Side of Diversity.” Buchanan blamed the Virginia Tech murders on an immigrant “invasion” and cited the virulent anti-immigrant website VDARE.com to connect diversity to “mass murder.”
Where does one find such facts [about immigrants going “berserk here”]? On VDARE.com, a Website that covers the dark side of diversity covered up by a politically correct media, which seem to believe it is socially unhealthy for us Americans to see any correlation at all between mass migrations and mass murder.
“In our diversity is our strength!” So we are endlessly lectured.
But are we really a better, safer, freer, happier, more united and caring country than we were before, against our will, we became what Theodore Roosevelt called “a polyglot boarding house for the world.”
Buchanan has a long history of bigotry against immigrants and minorities.
Previously:
Pat Buchanan: Blacks Have Lost The American Identity They Had During Segregation
Pat Buchanan: Minorities Aren't “Bad For The Country,” But...