Posted on 02/24/2006 11:42:47 AM PST by Dubya
CAIRO, Egypt -- It may seem bewildering to Americans who see themselves as helping Iraq.
The rush to blame the United States for the Shiite shrine bombing is a sign not only of the deteriorating situation in Iraq, but of the overall tense state of West-Mideast relations. From riots over the prophet drawings to the United Arab Emirates ports dispute to Hamas' election win, little is going right for the United States across the Arab world.
Even a supposed friend -- a top Iraqi Shiite leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who President Bush once praised at the White House -- took a poke after Wednesday's attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra, saying the U.S. ambassador "gave a green light to terrorist groups."
The outcry, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on a troubled visit to the region, is a sign of just how much America's Mideast policy has unraveled in recent months.
Some of that was predictable and even positive in an odd way: the Bush administration has achieved some success at promoting democracy here. It could have expected that determined foes such as Iran and Syria would fight back hard -- as they are.
But other, unforeseen problems have cropped up. One is the widespread Mideast belief that the Iraq war is going badly, and that the United States -- having invaded against Arab wishes -- is now responsible for the growing sectarian violence.
With Iraq veering closer to civil war, many feel like Dr. Nabil Salim, a political science professor at Baghdad University who says U.S.-led forces share blame for the shrine bombing "because they are in charge of security in the country. ... And they are not doing a good job of improving internal security or controlling borders."
Beyond Iraq, there have been other controversies undermining U.S. stature here that no one could have foreseen.
First was the "culture war" fight over the drawings of the prophet Muhammad, and the serious misunderstandings it exposed on each side. Countries such as Iran and Syria found the perfect chance to kick back at America -- the symbol of the West -- allowing violent riots that accused Europe and the United States of seeking to destroy Islam. Those protests then spread.
Then there was the Islamic militant group Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections, leading to more tension over American support for Israel. Old friends Egypt and Saudi Arabia told Rice this week they won't go along with U.S. hopes for a total aid ban to a Hamas-led government.
Next -- almost incredibly to many in the region -- there was the dispute over the United Arab Emirates and whether it can be trusted to keep U.S. ports safe.
It may have stemmed from understandable American fears about security after Sept. 11. But many here see the UAE as the model of Arab modernity -- the one country actually doing things right. They saw American fears as simple anti-Arab bias.
That dispute won't be simply or cleanly resolved, either, because America needs places like the UAE: Who else will allow the United States to base spy planes on its territory, or keep freighters to Iran from carrying the building blocks of nuclear weapons?
Even Abu Ghraib still causes a stir here. When new pictures of Iraqi prison abuse emerged this month, Egyptian critics promptly used them to accuse Rice of hypocrisy for citing Egyptian human rights woes.
The problem is that the Middle East is in fact deeply troubled -- torn among authoritarian governments, a genuine thirst for democracy and feelings of powerlessness and rage toward the West that lead people toward extremism.
Further complicating the situation are sectarian tensions, mostly Shiite-Sunni, that are easily exploited by the likes of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq is seemingly determined to cause not just civil war in that country, but internal Muslim divisions across the region.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah -- no friend of the United States -- hinted at just that Thursday when he told huge Shiite crowds in Lebanon: "Let's not blame each other. We shouldn't give them that opportunity. We should limit the accusations to the American occupation, its agents and the "takfiri" (Sunni extremist) murderers. Toward those our rage should be directed."
In the end, it may never be known who actually blew up the shrine:
All sides -- Shiite, Sunni, Hezbollah, Iran, friend, foe -- blamed the United States. Why?
In the end it may boil down to this: America is the outsider.
And if you're an outsider trying to get your way, sometimes everybody else pulls together just enough to blame you.
Why?
Ignorance.
Monolithic, immutable, religiously encouraged society wide ignorance.
Why? Because of st*pid MSM, that's why!!!
There. Fixed.
According to the AP, the situation in Iraq has been "deteriorating" for years. Contrast that with the gentle rule of "Uncle Sadaam" and you can see why so many intellectuals hate this administration. It really is very clear.
Is this an article written by a reporter, or a member of an editorial board? My God, this piece is lumpy with opinion.
"Sally Buzbee." Do you reckon that's her real name?
In the end the Arabs are going to have to work out their own centuries-old animosities; the role of the U.S. should revert to what it was in WWII: kicking the crap out of everybody who is on "the other side". Once the scum bags are beaten to a pulp, they may be ready to at least give up the fight - temporarily. And in the Mideast its hard not to label the whole bunch as "scum bags".
Because we are there in the middle of a civil war saying terrorists are threatening America and nobody believes that?
Here is the AP, an MSM member in good standing, trying to explain why others are trying to blame America when the MSM leads the chorus.
Funny revisionism. "First" cause is the cartoon scandal, way down the list "sunni-shiite" tensions. America's fault, the root cause of everything.
The minute i saw the byline i knew the article was going to be critical of our efforts in Iraq and the ME.More doom and gloom from the hate USA/GW crowd.
Muslim men are cowards and very insecure.They miss Saddam.
They love to die in great numbers......
that's why those recruits always get back in line to die.
MSM, demoncRATS and islamics have all one thing in common (actually there are more): "Blame Bush!"
Not it's not. The Arabs blame us for everything no matter how totally disconnected we are from the situation. There was a joke going around about 8 years ago about a Frenchman an italian and an Arab and how they reacted to the news their wives had cheated on them. The punchline was the Arab burned down the US Embassy.
"It must be Bush's fault".
"Somehow"
Exactly what I was thinking
Ms BuzzBee has been hitting the joint on the Buzzbee (Frisbee with a roachclip attached) that's been flying around her simple mind.
Because the IQ of the average muslim hovers around 30, and they will believe anything, true or not.
They're muslim, QED...
I think that following any of the branches of islam is akin to having some sort of mental rabies . Are we going to let this plague infect and infest the entire planet?
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