Posted on 08/07/2006 5:33:18 PM PDT by Graybeard58
CAIRO, Egypt -- Anger toward America is high, extremists are on the upswing and hopes for democracy in the Middle East lie dashed. The Lebanon war is creating dangerous ripples in the war on terror, the future of Iraq -- even the effort to keep nuclear weapons from dangerous hands.
"America, we hate you more than ever," Ammar Ali Hassan wrote in the independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, in the kind of visceral, slap-in-the-face rhetoric boiling across the region.
So far, the violence has not led allies to take steps that directly hurt America's strategic interests, such as forcing the military from its regional headquarters in Qatar or its naval base in Bahrain. And there are those who see the conflict as the bloody but necessary prelude to a real assessment by the Arab world of its choices: democracy and peace, or Islamic extremism and warfare.
Yet so far, almost every U.S. and European goal for the region -- keeping oil prices stable, promoting democracy, fighting extremists, strengthening moderates -- is suffering.
Jordan's pro-American King Abdullah gave the sharpest warning last week: Even if Hezbollah loses the military battle, its rising popularity among Arabs mean a like-minded group could pop up anywhere in the Middle East, even in his own country.
Others worry terror groups may already be directly benefiting. Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader has called on supporters to wage holy war against Israel in a clear effort to turn the hostility to its advantage.
More broadly, a wide swath of even progressive, middle-class people across the Mideast are outraged at the Israeli bombing of Lebanon and in part blame the United States. That means the long-sought U.S. effort to win Arab and Muslim "hearts and minds" -- so crucial to fighting terrorism -- has suffered a huge blow.
The signs are everywhere grim:
-- Moderates such as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have become almost irrelevant. All hope of an Israeli-Palestinian "land for peace" deal lie in tatters for the foreseeable future.
-- Iran has received a prestige boost as a key Hezbollah backer, and it has gained some relief from its own problems: U.N. efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions still limp along, but have taken a back seat.
-- The effort to calm Iraq has been "complicated," because the Lebanon war has boosted the prestige of Shiite extremists who are pushing Iraq toward civil war, said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.
The fighting even led to tension between Washington and Iraq's Shiite moderates, when the country's prime minister was harshly criticized by Democrats for condemning only Israel, not Hezbollah.
-- The push for democracy in other Arab regimes, already stalled, has ground to a halt. The U.S. is unlikely to pressure allies such as Saudi Arabia or Egypt for reform when it needs their help to end the crisis. Even many Arab reformers now believe the U.S. cares more about supporting Israel than anything elsey.
Not everyone thinks U.S. goals are in a muddle.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believes the fighting, though painful, is the "birth pang of a new Middle East."
-- meaning the bloodshed and disarming of Hezbollah are required before the region can move toward peace.
There is indeed a widely held view that the Arab world needs a shakeout before it can make progress toward democracy or peace -- to decide if it wants to follow Hezbollah and Iran or moderates such as the Palestinians' Abbas.
President Bush hinted at that when he called the Israel-Hezbollah fight part of a "a larger struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror."
Still others believe some of the Arab support for Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, could wane once the bombing ends and those in Lebanon take a hard look at the damage.
William Brown, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, contends America and Europe could seize an opportunity if Israel managed to disable Hezbollah temporarily. Brown said the U.S. should try to push a comprehensive peace plan that involves Israel, the Palestinians, Syria and Iran once the fight is over.
But he is skeptical the United States has the ability or will.
"I wouldn't like to see Nasrallah emerge as a hero in all this," Brown said. "But it's a distinct possibility."
Anger towards AP is higher.
That really is the point isn't it. What really bothers Europeans is that we represent roughly 55% of the world's military force. 55% of the force in one nation, speaking one language, with complete interoperability. If we are awakened like we were on 7 December 1941 and like we should have been, but weren't, on 11 September 2001, we have the capability to destroy or rule any part of the world we wish. No consultation, no alliance, no coalition.
We have the power. If angered, we can and will ignore the words collateral damage. We have used power ruthlessly, but effectively, in the past, look at Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
When our country finally decides Islamofacisim cannot be tolerated, it will depart from this earth along with its followers on a one way ticket to ride.
Well Ammar... our patience with you all has about run its course. And trust me: you won't like us when were angry - really angry.
Go ahead and keep pushing those buttons you faithfull followers of Mad Mo (piss be upon his head) - go ahead and make our day.
Steven Segal will be looking for you... /grin
"Anger toward America is high"
Yawn! And this is new? I'm shakin in my boots.
Let's give them a REASON to hate us...Put Mecca "on the table."
to Muslims that hate America: BRING IT ON
Not to mention 1200 years with sand in your shorts! Gets irritating!
I do not give a CRAP about whether people are angry at us or not.
I was DAMNED angry on 9/11, and after I watched the movie several months back titled "9/11" by the French brothers, I was even ANGRIER.
Then, when I saw the move "Flight 93", I was the only one in the theater who said anything, and it was "Those Sons of a Bitches".
So, yeah. I am angry. I had an acquaintance who died on one of those planes, and there were about 3000 other people I didn't know.
What we are trying to do in Iraq is magnificent. We are shedding blood and spending money to try to break the cycle over in that part of the world. Sure, it is in our best interests. We all stand to gain a lot if it works. We could just grab the oil while we are there, but we aren't.
We had 3000 of our citizens killed in just a couple of hours.
We would have been justified in carpet bombing and taking the damned countries over there by force, but we didn't.
It's not what we do. In WWII we could have taken and held as our own nearly any territory we occupied, but we didn't. We gave it back to the people who attacked us, and whose butts we kicked. It is the American way.
Now, we are giving those people a chance at choosing their own government, even if it (as seems likely) is a hostile one towards us. So be it. If we end up in a full scale conflagration in the Middle East, it cannot be said we did not try the humane approach to stamp out this festering, stinking thing called Islamofacism.
The rest of the damned world can kiss our collective ass if they don't like it.
So what?
This is from the AP. Whatever the paper's editorial stance may be, the news pages are cut and pasted from the AP.
>>This is from the AP. Whatever the paper's editorial stance may be, the news pages are cut and pasted from the AP.<<
Thanks. I didnt realize that when I posted.
What an honor!
Egypt = USA's number 1 aid recipient.
----
So Israel doesn't have to worry too much about her southern flank.
We have the power.
I don't think these morons realize how dangerous this crap is. At some point the US is going to decide "they hate us no matter what we do, so we might as well do what we want"
"Anger toward America is high, extremists are on the upswing and hopes for democracy in the Middle East lie dashed. ..."
... and the MSM hand-wringers that feed bias to the unwashed Arab masses are to blame!
"This is from a Republican paper."
No, from AP --- Asshat Propagandists,
"after I watched the movie several months back titled "9/11" by the French brothers, I was even ANGRIER."
What movie are you referring to? What French brothers?
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