U-turn in how the world perceives the US
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Adnan Amin
THE US and some western countries observed the tenth anniversary of al-Qaeda attacks on the US last September. But the world today is no more under a US created spell that its administration is fighting, so much as international terrorism. Rather, anti-Americanism has spread throughout the world like never before in its history.
The tables appear to have turned completely with sympathy for US actions totally vaporized and replaced by strong anti-Americanism.
What explains this U-turn in the world's outlook towards the United States? The main reason seems to be Iraq. President Bush could convince the world that he had to chase al-Qaeda into Afghanistan where the latter had found a base to organize and launch attacks on the US. But no logic could be similarly extended to justify the invasion of Iraq that was not approved by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The US and UK invaded Iraq unilaterally without UN sanction.
Even the unilateralism could make sense if the post-invasion scenario had proved the reasonableness of the move. But nothing could be found in Iraq to support the view that Iraq was clandestinely making weapons of mass destruction. Nor was there any proof that Saddam Hossein and his regime had any links with al-Qaeda.
Thus, without any legitimate or genuine ground for invading Iraq and having destroyed that country through invasion, the visage of the USA as a benign power has been spoiled. The image has been further tarred by leaks of US atrocities in Iraq. Anti-Americanism has come to a boil in the other Middle Eastern countries of Syria and Iran from apprehensions that they are up for grabs by the US military in their planned series of future conquests. Another Muslim country, Afghanistan, continues to bleed from mainly the US-sponsored invasion in the country. No constructive end to the miseries of that country appears to be in sight after the invasion.
President Obama may count some statistics in the war against terror - the number of al-Qaeda men dead and installations of terrorists knocked out. But these do not prove that the world or for that matter the USA and the west, today, are any safer they used to be before September 11, 2002.
The USA must realise that its greatness stemmed from its idealism, its image as the defender of noble values and its identification on the side of good against evil. The US will be nowhere in its unconvincingly argued struggle against terrorism without having true moral initiative behind it. It must rekindle its time-tested values to be trusted once again as the world leader.
(The writer is a graduate-level student in the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka)
THE US and some western countries observed the tenth anniversary of al-Qaeda attacks on the US last September. But the world today is no more under a US created spell that its administration is fighting, so much as international terrorism. Rather, anti-Americanism has spread throughout the world like never before in its history.
The tables appear to have turned completely with sympathy for US actions totally vaporized and replaced by strong anti-Americanism.
What explains this U-turn in the world's outlook towards the United States? The main reason seems to be Iraq. President Bush could convince the world that he had to chase al-Qaeda into Afghanistan where the latter had found a base to organize and launch attacks on the US. But no logic could be similarly extended to justify the invasion of Iraq that was not approved by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The US and UK invaded Iraq unilaterally without UN sanction.
Even the unilateralism could make sense if the post-invasion scenario had proved the reasonableness of the move. But nothing could be found in Iraq to support the view that Iraq was clandestinely making weapons of mass destruction. Nor was there any proof that Saddam Hossein and his regime had any links with al-Qaeda.
Thus, without any legitimate or genuine ground for invading Iraq and having destroyed that country through invasion, the visage of the USA as a benign power has been spoiled. The image has been further tarred by leaks of US atrocities in Iraq. Anti-Americanism has come to a boil in the other Middle Eastern countries of Syria and Iran from apprehensions that they are up for grabs by the US military in their planned series of future conquests. Another Muslim country, Afghanistan, continues to bleed from mainly the US-sponsored invasion in the country. No constructive end to the miseries of that country appears to be in sight after the invasion.
President Obama may count some statistics in the war against terror - the number of al-Qaeda men dead and installations of terrorists knocked out. But these do not prove that the world or for that matter the USA and the west, today, are any safer they used to be before September 11, 2002.
The USA must realise that its greatness stemmed from its idealism, its image as the defender of noble values and its identification on the side of good against evil. The US will be nowhere in its unconvincingly argued struggle against terrorism without having true moral initiative behind it. It must rekindle its time-tested values to be trusted once again as the world leader.
(The writer is a graduate-level student in the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka)