Iraq War Erodes World's Post-9/11 Sympathy for US
Tue September 2, 2003 11:00 AM ET
By Alistair Lyon, Middle East Diplomatic Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Victim turned bully?
Changed views of the United States two years after the September 11 horrors may haunt Washington's quest for help in grappling with the bloody aftermath of the Iraq invasion.
The suicide hijack attacks on New York and Washington in 2001 produced a remarkable outpouring of sympathy for America.
Nations briefly set aside their quarrels with U.S. foreign policy and President Bush's go-it-alone approach, but sympathy soured as Bush declared a vague "war on terror" that he took to Afghanistan and then, far more controversially, to Iraq.
Emad Shahin, a political science professor in Cairo, said Egyptians questioned whether the human suffering of September 11 justified the deaths of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis.
"After the war in Iraq, the United States looks to many like an occupying power in the region, which revives memories of European occupation in the early 20th century and further erodes any sympathy among people in the region," he said.
Disquiet among U.S. allies in Europe centers on Washington's preference for pre-emptive action, its claim to military and economic primacy and its scorn for multilateral initiatives in areas including global warming and international justice.
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http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=823eadd33cd14b28Bush's premptive strikes is looking like Mr.Bully!
:bounce: