Folks,
I found the following article to be an honest
self-appraisal of the country many of us call home.
What do you all think?
BY JON FRANDSEN
AND CARL WEISER
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - Is the United States benevolent or
arrogant? Hypocritical or heroic?
The answer depends largely on where in the world you
live.
Americans tend to think of themselves as a force for
good in an increasingly troubled world, so the idea
that many people abroad see them or their government
as uncaring or evil is ludicrous, even mad-dening.
But people and governments on every continent see
Ameri-cans' attitude as a part of the problem, as a
sign that they are not trying to understand the rest
of the world.
"We know you. You don't know us," Emad Adeeb, an
Egyptian television and newspaper journalist told a
recent Pew International Fellows conference in
Washington. "What happens here is part of our local
news. What happens (in the Arab world) is foreign news
here."
Anger has been further fu-eled by the United States'
prominent military role in the world as part of the
war on terrorism - a marked shift from its 1990s role
as a driving force in the global economy.
Before Sept. 11, the image was that "the president was
CEO of the world," Adeeb said. "Now the president is
head sheriff."
Fair or not, that judgment is widely held outside the
United States.
European allies are fuming over America's decisions to
abandon treaties on global warming, arms control and
an international war crimes court as well as to
protect U.S. products with new tariffs on for-eign
goods. Anti-American feelings go much deeper in Arab
countries, where the United States is viewed as
blindly loyal to Israel.
After the Sept. 11, Americans realized that two oceans
and two friendly countries at their borders no longer
were enough to separate them from the terror and
strife bedeviling much of the world.
President Bush spoke of a global war on terrorism and
of a renewed effort to build de-mocracy and prosperity
in struggling countries.
But 10 months after the at-tacks, many countries view
America more as a villain than a victim. Many analysts
say anti-Americanism is higher now than at any time
since the Vietnam War.
Surveys in Arab nations show that increasing numbers
of people there believe that Israel, not Osama bin
Laden, spearheaded the Sept. 11 at-tacks, even though
his network has effectively claimed responsibility.
The idea that Israel was somehow behind the World
Trade Center attacks in an effort to tighten U.S.
sup-port for the Jewish state ech-oes throughout much
of the Muslim world.
"The belief in bin Laden as the leader of this
terrorist attack was a very high number at one point.
I think it's eroded," Undersecretary of State
Charlotte Beers told Gannett News Service, citing
classified State Department polls and focus groups.
"They will argue with you that there hasn't been a
case made against him."
Anger at the United States has intensified in rhythm
with the escalation of violence in the Middle East and
U.S. sup-port for Israel.
Outside a dilapidated hous-ing project in Giza, a
bustling suburb of Cairo, Mohammed Attia, 27, recalls
the day when America was considered a good friend.
That was when Egypt became the only Arab state to make
peace with Is-rael, a deal brokered in Wash-ington and
rewarded by stabil-ity, economic and military aid, and
investment by U.S. corporations.
But the attitude has changed since the latest round of
Israeli-Palestinian strife. There are anti-American
demonstrations, and the fast food joints that seem as
prevalent in Cairo as in any U.S. suburb can be
targets as well as eateries.
"Ever since the U.S. takes sides, we dislike the
United States," Attia said. "The Jews will see their
prophecy come true when all the Christians disappear
and all the Muslims disappear," he said
matter-of-factly. He then turned to an Egyptian
interpreter and asked, "Do you think America realizes
this?"
In the Muslim world, "eve-rything is seen through the
prism of this big, unjust, Jew-ish conspiracy," said
Najam Sethi, chief editor of the Daily Times in
Lahore, Pakistan. Arabs view the American media and
government as tools of "the Jewish lobby," he said.
The spread of U.S. hatred in the Islamic world is a
concern of Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a leading
Republican foreign policy voice.
"What is most dangerous to us post-September 11th is
not just the terrorists ... it's allowing any kind of
civilization clash to ignite because we weren't paying
attention enough," Hagel said. "It is important we pay
attention to that so we don't alienate a billion
Muslims through a misunderstood policy of the United
States."
America's image also suffers from the perception that
its foreign policy is hypocritical.
The up, down and now up relationship between the
Pakistani and U.S. governments points to the broader
stress.
The United States long regarded Pakistan as a close
ally, especially during neighboring Afghanistan's
decade-long fight against the invading Soviet army.
But after the Soviet Union collapsed, America "packed
bag and baggage and left," Sethi said. "We felt
totally betrayed."
Then the United States imposed sanctions on Pakistan
because of its nuclear program, "which the United
States had known about and condoned," Sethi said.
"Pakistan became even more of a pariah," he said, when
Pervez Musharraf overthrew a democratically elected
gov-ernment. But since the Sept. 11 attacks, "the
dictator has be-come a democrat ... and we are back to
square one."
European allies were irked when Bush briefly
threatened to pull U.S. troops out of a United Nations
peacekeeping mission in Bosnia unless they were
exempted from the jurisdiction of a new war crimes
court the United States refuses to support. Critics
also cite the dispute over U.S. steel tariffs and
other protective trade measures that threaten to start
a trade war with Europe. They say the United States
preaches free trade but protects its own products and
makes trade difficult with the poor countries that
would benefit most.
Shifting priorities often make such double standards
unavoidable, Hagel said.
"The business of foreign policy is always going to be
streaked with a certain schizo-phrenia, a certain
imperfection and hypocrisy because the world is as it
is," he said.
There's been considerable concern that Bush often
oversimplifies the threats facing the world in terms
of good versus evil, but administration officials
defend Bush's approach.
"Sometimes the world needs to recognize that not
everything is a shade of gray," especially during a
war on terrorism, said national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice.
Critics say the United States often looks for special
treat-ment, but Rice said America's unique role
requires some exceptions. She cited the U.S. refusal
to be part of the inter-national war crimes court.
"The United States is special because it is a bigger
target with forces all over the world. So maybe there
is some differ-ence in interests there," Rice said,
referring to the court. "But because the United States
needs to be concerned about the lives and wellbeing of
its forces abroad should not be considered to be a
dismissal of international cooperation."
Policies are not the only issue. Much of the animosity
directed at the United States is simply about what the
country is.
In just over a decade, globalization of the economy
and technology, the collapse of the Soviet Union and
the spread of democracy have brought mas-sive changes
to the world.
"Why wouldn't they be mad as hell? Their world is
being turned upside down," said Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del. "It's
not us. It is these major trends that have taken place
in the world, and we happen to be the guy at the top
of the heap."
As those changes took place, democracy and free market
economies were touted as medicines for the ills that
have thwarted prosperity and freedom.
"At the end of the Cold War, many populations were
told if they just swallowed very painful democratic
reforms, they would soon look like America," said
Moises Naim, editor and publisher of Foreign Policy
magazine.
"And a decade after that, America looks more like
America, and they look poorer than ever."
__________________________________________________
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