Posted on 09/04/2002 8:02:06 AM PDT by profmike23
A majority of Europeans think that US foreign policy is partially to blame for the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
A survey of American and European attitudes towards foreign relations found that 55 per cent of respondents from six European countries agreed that US policy had contributed to the attacks.
The poll also found widespread public support within the US for an invasion of Iraq, with 75 per cent of American respondents in favour of using military force to overthrow Saddam Hussein and incite regime change.
But both European and American respondents were cautious about the US entering Iraq alone, with 65 per cent of Americans and 60 per cent of Europeans urging the US to gain allied support and approval from the United Nations.
A mere 10 per cent of Europeans would support US military action in Iraq without backing from the UN and allies.
The survey of 9,000 Europeans and Americans was jointly undertaken by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF).
The findings also showed that terrorism is a concern for more Americans than Europeans, with 91 per cent of those polled in the US citing international terrorism as a critical threat and only 65 per cent of Europeans identifying it as extremely important.
"The tragedy of September 11 has created a seismic shift in US public attitudes about the world and America's place in it," said Marshall M. Bouton, president of CCFR.
But a majority of Americans, 52 per cent, think that the US should remain the only world superpower, while 65 per cent of Europeans said that the European Union should become a superpower similar to the US. Only 33 per cent of Americans agreed.
These statistics are useless to me. I'd like to see a country by country breakdown. Note that 45% disagreed, which is a huge number if you ask me, considering they are Europeans.. I'll bet the Brits got our back...
The distinction is not insignificant.
It should come as a no surprise that the long-time enemy of Islam--Israel--is also the greatest recipient of American foreign aid. With that track record, we should have expected something to happen.
This is a perfect illustration of the consequences of not heeding the advice of that greatest of Americans, George Washington, who advised the US to avoid foreign entanglements and enchanting alliances. We didn't and we paid. We didn't seem to learn.
This nonsense about the towelheads "hating freedom and wealth" is just that--nonsense. Those concepts are too abstract to hate; it's like hating love.
I snapped."A John Wayne movie," I said. "That's what you were going to say, wasn't it? We think war is a John Wayne movie. We think life is a John Wayne movie -- with good guys and bad guys, as simple as that. Well, you know something, Mister Limey Poofter? You're right. And let me tell you who those bad guys are. They're us. WE BE BAD."
-- P.J. O'Rourke, Holidays in Hell, "Among the Euro-Weenies."
I stopped after the first five words.
If we weren't rich, successful, basically nice, and influencing the cultures of pretty much the entire world, these fanatic bastards wouldn't hate us.
And if those buildings hadn't been built, they wouldn't have been targets -- right?
This little screed is nothing more than proof that Al Qaeda isn't the only group of folks who don't like us. To heck with 'em.
Well, of course our foreign policy is to blame. If we went to Bin Laden and the Arab governments and worked out a plan to bomb Israel, turn over "palestine" to Arafat, give national praise to Allah, and a bunch of crap like that, then we would be at peace for at least 15 or twenty years, I bet.
Then when they demand we do away with elections and install some mullahs as our rulers, they could again blame our policies if we refused.
I would also argue that our appeasments under Klinton did the same thing. Had we "beaten the snot" out of anyone or organization that even thought about killing American citizans - I don't think we would have lost 2,000+ citizens.
Time to adopt the mantra - It is better to be feared than loved.
Knock yourselves out.
That money is better spent here.
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