Posted on 01/16/2006 1:26:24 PM PST by Hal1950
Karen Hughes, President Bush’s newest undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and the caretaker of America’s image abroad, has her work cut out for her.
A Zogby survey of 3,900 Arabs in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates has uncovered massive distrust of U.S. motives in the Middle East.
Unkindest cut of all, Arabs would prefer that President Chirac and France lead the world rather than us, and, rather than have us as the world’s lone superpower, they would prefer the Chinese.
While Arabs are not as rabidly anti-American as in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, still, by 77 percent to 6 percent, they believe the Iraqi people are worse off today, and by four-to-one, Arabs say the U.S. invasion has increased, not decreased, terrorism.
Designed by Arab scholar Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution, the survey reveals pervasive cynicism about the stated goals of George W. Bush. When asked, “When you consider American objectives in the Middle East, what factors do you think are important to the United States?” the Arab answers came as follows:
Fully 76 percent said the Americans are there for the oil, 68 percent said to protect Israel, 63 percent to dominate the region, and 59 percent to weaken the Muslim world. Only 6 percent said we were there to protect human rights and another 6 percent said to promote democracy. Asked directly if they believe President Bush when he says democracy is our goal, two of every three Arabs, 78 percent in Egypt, said that, no, they do not believe Bush.
Asked to name the two nations that present the greatest threat to regional peace, 70 percent named Israel, 63 percent the United States, and 11 percent Britain. Only 6 percent named our bête noire Iran.
Asked to name the foreign leader they disliked most, Sharon swept top honors with 45 percent. Bush took the silver with 30 percent. No one else was close. Tony Blair came in a weak third. Only 3 percent of the Arabs detest him most.
While only 6 percent agreed with al-Qaeda’s aim to establish an Islamic state and only 7 percent approve of its methods, 20 percent admire the way al-Qaeda “stood up for Muslim causes” and 36 percent admire how it “confronts the U.S.”
Favorite news source? Sixty-five percent named Al-Jazeera either as their favorite or second favorite. What Fox News is to red-state America, Al-Jazeera is to the Arab street.
America’s standing in the Arab world could hardly be worse. And the questions the survey raises are these: Do we care? And, if we do, do not the Arabs have a point? Has not U.S. behavior in the Middle East lent credence to the view that our principal interests are Israel and oil, and, under Bush II, that we launched an invasion to dominate the region?
After all, before liberating Kuwait, Secretary of State Baker said the coming war was about “o-i-l.” And while we sent half a million troops to rescue that nation of 1.5 million, we sent none to Rwanda, where perhaps that many people were massacred.
If Kuwait did not sit on an underground sea of oil, would we have gone in? Is our military presence in the Mideast unrelated to its control of two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves?
If human rights is our goal, why have we not gone into Darfur, the real hellhole of human rights? If democracy is what we are fighting for, why did we not invade Cuba, a dictatorship, 90 miles away, far more hostile to America than Saddam’s Iraq, and where human rights have been abused for half a century? Saddam never hosted nuclear missiles targeted at U.S. cities.
And is Israel not our fair-haired boy? Though Sharon & Co. have stomped on as many UN resolutions as Saddam Hussein ever did, they have pocketed $100 billion in U.S. aid and are now asking for a $2 billion bonus this year, Katrina notwithstanding. Anyone doubt they will get it?
Though per capita income in Israel is probably 20 times that of the Palestinians, Israel gets the lion’s share of economic aid. And though they have flipped off half a dozen presidents to plant half a million settlers in Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank, have we ever imposed a single sanction on Israel? Has Bush ever raised his voice to Ariel Sharon? And when you listen to the talking heads and read the columns of the neocon press, is it unfair to conclude that, yes, they would like to dump over every regime that defies Bush or Sharon?
Empathy, a capacity for participating in another’s feelings or ideas, is indispensable to diplomacy. Carried too far, as it was by the Brits in the 1930s, it can lead to appeasement. But an absence of empathy can leave statesmen oblivious as to why their nation is hated, and with equally fateful consequences.
January 16, 2006 Issue
I was never taught to hate Jewish people either.
Machiavelli said there are two ways to get people to respect you; either through love or through fear. Love is possible with people who share common values, namely the civilised world. As the Arabs do not, fear must be applied.
I simply do not care if they like us. I do care if they are afraid of us.
Regards, Ivan
"I am not convinced that the reason we went to war in Iraq was strictly for oil."
Well, gee, that is nice...
Let me help you...The reason we went to war against Saddam is because he had enormous Oil wealth and was buying favor from the U.N. Admin and Europe.
He exported terroism. He was an enemy to the West. Wealth, power, and indescrimate hatred were the reasons.
Now, look at the map. Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey are all boxed in. Get the picture!
Jesus was a Jew whose main teaching, above all others, was to love one another, be kind to one another, help one another.
There is only one politician in my lifetime who has made that message a central theme of his term in office: George W. Bush.
I was never taught to hate Jewish people either.
Me either
Yes....and yesterday when there was the story about the Iranian idiot wanting a summit to discuss whether the Holocaust really happened...
I couldn't figure out who would want to attend something like that...after all of these years..
Pat would probably LOVE to get that assignment for MSNBC.
I couldn't bear to read the whole thing. Is he saying it's our fault Arabs and Muslims believe lies?
Always a rabid anti-semite...he's finally found his forum. What an embarrassment. I wouldn't be surprised if he's on some Arab payroll somewhere.
I have wondered the same thing. He has a deeply ingrained anti-semitism, that much is clear. It is not his Catholicism. I am a Catholic and am staunchly pro-Israel and if you disassembled me bit by bit looking for an anti-semitic bone, you wouldn't find it. I have no idea why Buchanan is so reflexively anti-Israel.
It was Lucius Accius, a roman poet, the quote was later on used by the Emperor Caligula.
I also use the quote (in original latin) as my tagline.
A poll of Arab people by an Arab. Geez I wonder how the polling will turn out? Better wait for Al Jezera's poll to make sure its on the up and up!
The nuns where I went to school were tough, no nonsense, maybe mean (from a child's and teenager's perspective). But they did not teach hate. Period.
I'll reserve opinion on this article until I hear what Lenora Fulani has to say.
They were mean! ;-)
IMO, "sophistry" requires that the argument show a degree of cleverness...
There is some truth in every article Pat Buchannan writes, not that I agree with him whole heartedly. It does no good to bury our heads in the sand. If there's some greed and possibly unjustifiable self-interest in the US foreign policy, why not own up to it. I know of no saints in the US government. I approve of the US actions worldwide, but sometimes feel a little hypocritical when the only motive many will accept is altruism.
Well no duh, Pat. I never knew that. You are a friggin genius!!!
And MSNBC has him as the representative of "our side" opposite Peter Fenn.
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