A problem of image or policy? [Archives:2003/674/Opinion]

One would think that the Bush Administration would do better to save the American taxpayers' money rather than to waste it on futile efforts to convince 250 million Arabs and 1.5 billion Moslems that American foreign policy in the Middle East and towards the Moslem World is sincere, genuine and not lacking in any evil intents. Second of all it is really insulting to all these people, including the American taxpayers, if the Bush Administration believes that a public relations make up job is enough to win the hearts of so many people. This is especially so, if the effort rests on the premise that all these people must ignore all their spiritual and sentimental feelings, simply because Uncle Sam has clearly shown that the only “sentimental and spiritual” orientations that count are those of a chauvinistic Zionist establishment and their “evangelical” friends, whose authority currently holds sway over all foreign policy inclinations of the United States Government.
The truth of the matter is that even if the United States spends US $ 600 Billion in a campaign to “win the hearts” of the Muslim and Arab constituencies in the world, all this money would be better used for more effective programs like eradicating poverty (in the US and the rest of the world) or cleaning up the air in the world, than to have the Arabs see the logic of an incongruous foreign policy that aims to destroy all hope for the people in the region to live in peace and stability. One would think it somewhat insulting to believe that the Arabs, in particular, can quickly understand the genuine intents of the United States for the region, when American soldiers are daily killing Arabs and Moslems in Afghanistan and Iraq, almost in a random desperate manner that defies logical explanation. It would also be insulting that the Arabs and Moslems can be made to understand the logic of unfailing support for a chauvinistic state implanted in the region's midst, while that state uses state of the art American arms, Caterpillar tractors and shovels to finish off the unarmed helpless Palestinian people.
This is the essence of the problem of “image”, which the United States is facing in the region. The problem, therefore does not stem from an erroneous perception of the people of the region about the “good side” of American foreign policy, if there is still a good side left to American foreign policy. Frankly speaking, we have come to the point now, where even the American people are increasingly questioning the intentions and motivations that drive American foreign policy since the Bush Administration took the helms in Washington DC. The point to be made here is that the American people, in general, have no “image” problem in the region, for most people in the Moslem and Arab World have no real qualms against the American people. The problem of the American image in the region centers on the overtly strong influence that the Zionist establishment has been able to enjoy, in determining what American foreign policy should be not only for the Middle East, but even towards America's longtime allies, who have stood by the United States for half a century. Therefore it is almost ridiculous to expect that the Arabs and Moslems of the world can be fooled into recognizing the true merits of a policy that succumbs to a chauvinistic and arrogant Zionist mob that has distorted the historical context to justify their evil intentions, not only for the region of the Holy Land, but for the world at large as well.
The more important truth of the matter is that the Special Fact Finding Committee on the American image portrayed in the region seemed to have overlooked the fact that just as the Committee's report is being presented to the US Congress, the Israeli Cabinet had the audacity to confirm American foreign policy in its truest manifestations. The Israelis will go on building the prison wall that shatters all hopes for the establishment of a Palestinian state, thanks to the American funding or “guarantees” as William Safire calls them. This same William Safire of the New York Times goes on to explain to the American people (exactly one day before the Israeli Government decision!) that the “Arafat Wall”, as he calls it, is justified and necessary, notwithstanding the public renunciations, albeit fluid opposition by the White House and the US State Department to the “continuation” of the construction of the wall,. Surely, the people of the region and the Muslim world cannot find any logical explanation in the genuine intents of the United States, when American troops randomly shoot at the homes of helpless Iraqi citizens, whose country was invaded for reasons that have no basis except to abide by the Zionist map and agenda for the region, which is proceeding at full speed notwithstanding the “Road Map”, not to mention the fulfillment of the designs of the highly influential business establishment led by such political arm twisters like Halliburton and other politically entrenched American firms (Remember the East India Trading Company).
One final truth that is bound to remain with us is that as long as the Bush Administration holds sway in the US, there can never be any hope of the US projecting any image, except that of an aggressive neo-colonialist thug. Human sentiment can never be won over by sheer power and endless meaningless propaganda lavishly financed by American taxpayers, who themselves are beginning to be fed up with an Administration that has scored zero in terms of credibility and transparency.
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[archive-e:674-v:13-y:2003-d:2003-10-06-p:opinion]