During an appearance on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight , Ted Turner said he thinks it's "good" that U.S. soldiers are killing themselves because it shows humanity has evolved a distaste for war. Asked what he thought about the fact that more American soldiers commit suicide than are killed in combat, host Morgan said it was "shocking," but Turner responded, "No, I think it's good." Turner went on to argue that it was time for people to start acting "enlightened" and that this was why it was "good" U.S. soldiers are committing suicide in such large numbers because it shows an aversion to war. At first, Turner smirked and appeared as if he was about to say it's "terrific" that U.S. soldiers are killing themselves, before using the word "good" instead and adopting a sterner facial expression. As the New York Times reported earlier this year, U.S. soldiers are killing themselves at a rate of nearly one per day and the figure continues to rise. Reasons for the suicides include the stress caused by such a high number of deployments as well as the horrors troops have witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan. A recent poll of soldiers who had tried to commit suicide found that the top reason for them attempting to take their own life was "intense emotional distress." Turner was also asked by the host who he thought should replace the United States as the world's policeman, to which he responded, "the United Nations." Some have argued that Turner