Best Friends, Like It or Not

There’s nothing “friendly” about a 500-pound laser-guided U.S. bomb, whether dropped on an enemy or, as recently, on allied Canadian troops in Afghanistan. The sadness over the four deaths that resulted is powerful in both countries. Investigations are underway, as they should be, just as investigations have been made into other “friendly fire” incidents in Afghanistan. Bad things happen in wars, intentionally and accidentally.

The overheated reaction of some Canadians highlights a perennial delicacy in U.S.-Canadian relations, even without Canadians serving under U.S. command. As a nation, Canada has been a most loyal ally and cooperative neighbor, especially important during the long Cold War years when only it separated the Soviet Union from the United States.

As the physically larger and less populated half of North America, Canada has long displayed a penchant for perceiving slights and feeling underappreciated, even abused. Canadians still mutter that during World War II’s ill-fated Dieppe raid, the British fought to the last Canadian. American leaders, particularly, it seems, Texans who live with Mexico as the neighbor, have displayed insensitivity. President Johnson kept confusing Prime Minister Pearson with Britain’s Prime Minister Wilson. Although President Bush phoned private condolences to Prime Minister Jean Chretien immediately, he was slow to say anything publicly that could be televised to Canadians suffering their first hostile military fatalities since the Korean War--and at the hands of their ally.

A columnist for Toronto’s Globe and Mail was particularly strident. “We went to help out the Americans with their war,” wrote Margaret Wente, “and they used us for target practice.” Wente is actually a Chicago native living in Canada, but she spoke for numerous Canadians living in the comfy commercial shadows and security of the American colossus and both enjoying and resenting it, sometimes simultaneously.

Americans are, shall we say, not famous for their sensitivities toward foreign cultures, especially when, like Canada’s, they don’t seem very foreign. The fact of life in today’s world, however, is that the United States is inevitably more important to other nations than they are to the U.S. Countries like Canada know this very well. One country--the U.S.--often needs a reminder that more, not less, is expected of the most important partner.