It Didn't Have to Be This Way

U.S. has more allies, fewer friends

by Seth Green
The Tallahasee Democrat
12/29/2002

When the Pew Research Center released a survey earlier this month indicating a marked increase in anti-Americanism abroad, many Americans were understandably surprised.

From America's shores, the world finally appeared to be warming to our foreign policy. The U.N. Security Council had authorized strong weapons inspections after initial resistance. Germany had opened its bases to U.S. troops after promising opposition. Even Yemen was working with us to hunt down terrorists.

Why would resentment of the United States be rising abroad at the very time that so many foreign countries seemed to be embracing us?

From overseas, though, the concurrence of these two trends - rising anti-Americanism and growing alliances - seemed natural. Living abroad since September 2001, I have witnessed a shift in mainstream perception, from a view of the United States as a defensive ally protecting the world from terror to a fear that our country is an aggressor that cares only about itself.

My international peers tell me that the shift reflects their frustration with a U.S. government that they believe compels foreign leaders to align with U.S. priorities against the will of their constituents. Thus, public resentment in other countries actually appears to be growing alongside foreign leaders' acceptance of U.S. foreign policy.

The Pew survey supports this observation. Findings indicate that favorable views of the United States declined most in countries where our government has been most adamant about achieving its objectives despite popular opposition. In Pakistan, Turkey and Jordan, where foreign leaders backed U.S. objectives to the frustration of domestic audiences, positive images of America dropped by double digits.

President Bush's strong-arm diplomacy has undoubtedly succeeded in persuading foreign leaders to climb aboard the U.S. train. Bush told foreign governments they were either "with us or against us" in the fight against terror, and almost all sided with us. Bush rejected the authority of the international criminal court, and the court's members rewarded the U.S. with a one-year exemption. Bush gave the United Nations an ultimatum - disarm Iraq or we will - and the United Nations authorized weapons inspections.

Bush's foreign policy actually presents a risk to U.S. security. Strong-arm diplomacy recruits foreign leaders at the expense of resentment among foreign publics. The potential consequences are catastrophic. Consider, for example, a Dec. 9 report in The New York Times warning that the possibility of stationing more U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia for an attack on Iraq has increased support for the ultraconservative, anti-Western Islamic movement there.

Fortunately, the dangerous trend of rising anti-Americanism overseas is reversible. I'm the coordinator of Americans for Informed Democracy, a nonpartisan organization of Americans residing abroad from Britain to Vietnam (www.americansforinformeddemocracy.com). I have discovered that foreign citizens welcome Americans and our democratic values. Friends who have recently traveled through North Africa and the Middle East tell me that, even in this supposed bastion of anti-Americanism, many people remain open-minded about us.

The Pew findings show that, while majorities in most nations surveyed believe that the United States acts without giving proper consideration to the interests of other nations, foreigners embrace our culture and even our foreign policy values. Across most of the countries surveyed, foreign citizens support our war on terrorism and believe that Iraq poses a danger to the world.

The Bush administration, however, has failed to capitalize on international good will and the commonality of world values. My European peers overwhelmingly support multilateral efforts to remove Saddam Hussein. But when the Bush administration seized Iraq's weapons report in violation of U.N. rules, my friends lost faith in the U.S. commitment to multilateralism and, more generally, the mission to oust Saddam.

When asked about the Pew findings, Bush responded that "we've never been a nation of conquerors; we're a nation of liberators." The opposite perspective dominates abroad, where we are seen as a conqueror more than ever.