Why The world hates US govt - 'It's the policy, stupid'

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

http://www.jordantimes.com/Mon/opinion/opinion3.htm

'It's the policy, stupid'
By Lawrence Pintak

ONCE AGAIN American strategic interests in the Islamic world have been sucker-punched by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and much of the US body politic remains oblivious to the fact that they are even in the fight. For the past two years, Americans — and their president — have been asking the question: “Why do they hate us?” But they have not wanted to hear the answer, which lies, in part, in the blood-soaked soil of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

As I did the rounds of radio talk shows in the weeks after Sept. 11, I encountered a parade of hosts who either dismissed the notion that there might be a connection between terrorism and the US policy in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or who violently objected to even suggesting such a thing.

Little has changed since. It is still possible to have an otherwise rational conversation with someone about Muslim perceptions of the US, then watch as they recoil at the idea that the sight of the US president embracing the man Arabs consider the Butcher of Beirut just might upset some people in the Muslim world.
What many Americans do not seem to understand is that the issue is not who wears the black hat and who wears the white in a conflict painted in shades of grey, but rather, what the implications are for the security of Americans at home and abroad.

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Monday, October 13, 2003

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

1. more excerpts

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...So why is it they hate us? The next time the president wonders about that out loud, rather than commissioning another government study, the White House might want to take a cue from Bush Senior's reelection campaign and invest in a sign to hang in the Oval Office: “It's the policy, stupid.”

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The writer, a veteran journalist who has covered the Islamic world for more than 20 years and is the author of `Seeds of Hate: How America's Flawed Middle East Policy Ignited the Jihad', published this month, is also the Howard R. Marsh visiting professor of journalism at the University of Michigan. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.

Monday, October 13, 2003