[…] The U.S. policy in the Middle East does not make sense at all. The wars started by George W. Bush soon became a recruitment agency for terrorists in Arab and Muslim countries. Then came Barack Obama, the man with good intentions but shackled hands, after which the popularity of the United States in our countries soon rose on the basis of his intentions, only to quickly plummet on the basis of real life experience. A few weeks ago, a poll in Pakistan showed that 68 percent of Pakistanis, i.e. a record proportion of them, consider the United States to be an enemy (a Gallop poll in Abu Dhabi showed that Muslim Americans are the most tolerant religious community in America and that they are the most loyal to their country). However, the results of another poll conducted by Zogby International, along with an analysis by the prominent Arab-American activist Jim Zogby, has drawn the attention of many pundits. 4000 people from Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were polled: The standing of the United States had risen greatly in the wake of Barack Obama's speech in Cairo in June 2009 (and another speech he delivered in Turkey), compared to the abysmal state it was in under George W. Bush. However, the new poll, which asked whether the Arabs looked favorably upon U.S. policy, has shown that the numbers have once again plummeted to their levels under Bush or even below those, reaching less than ten percent and even five percent in Egypt. The numbers were even lower than Iran's favorable ratings, except in Saudi Arabia. Once again, I say that President Obama wants better relations with the Arabs and Muslims. However, he is facing a war against him at home that is much fiercer than foreign wars. The enemies within are always more sinister than the enemies without, since they know where they can cause the most damage. Thus the Republicans, who brought America to economic ruin, refuse now to help the president, to work together and rescue the economy, because they want to hold him personally responsible for what they had themselves perpetrated. Then there is the Israel lobby, the Likudnik media, and the extremist think-tanks run by the neocons. In the 2006 Summer War against Lebanon, the Senate endorsed the Israeli aggression with a unanimous show of hands, while the war was supported in the House of Representatives as I recall, by more than 400 representatives out of 435, or another unanimous endorsement. Then in the assault on Gaza near the end of 2008, the U.S. Congress endorsed the murder of 1300 people, mostly civilians, and the leveling of the Strip atop its people, with a majority of 390 votes to five. And most recently, the House of Representatives voted with a majority of 407 votes to six, only, on a resolution calling on the Administration to put pressure to block the vote over Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly, while threatening to suspend aid to the Palestinian National Authority if it insists on holding the vote. In truth, Abu Mazen assured me in a telephone conversation that he would not back down under any pressures, and need I remind the reader here that Israel lives at the expense of the United States, even when the latter is bankrupt? Can anyone explain to me the current U.S. policy in the Middle East? They told Hosni Mubarak to step down then they told him to stay. When he resigned under popular pressure, they changed their position. Then there is Muammar Gaddafi, who is a catastrophe for Libya and the entire world. Many Americans were killed in the terrorist bombing of the Lockerbie commercial airliner. Yet, the United States has declined to continue the use of force against him, and left this task to its allies in NATO. Meanwhile, the U.S., through its Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, criticizes President Bashar al-Assad and threatens him, stating that he is expendable. However, Washington does not know what the alternative to his regime is, and has no direct contacts with anyone except for some opportunistic dissenters in Washington, who are rather reminiscent of the Iraq National (but unpatriotic) Congress. Speaking of Iraq, will the Americans pull their troops out or not, and will the U.S forces remain in Afghanistan until 2014 or beyond? What about the future American engagement of nuclear Pakistan, with bilateral relations currently in the gutter ever since the killing of Osama bin Laden? This is not to mention Yemen, where the people are without water, and where America's sole contribution is its drone strikes. This is while the American role in Bahrain has been limited to giving lectures on democracy without perceiving the threat of Iranian meddling, and in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, where there is a famine in full force, there has been no American role of any kind. Instead, the U.S. is focusing on something that has yet to exist in Iran, while turning a blind eye to the nuclear arsenal in Israel, or the state of war criminal gangs. The U.S. policy in the Middle East is such that the country spends three billion dollars per day on losing wars, while providing 27 million dollars [only] in aid to fight the famine in Somalia. It is such a policy that gives rise to the results we have seen in the public opinion polls. [email protected]
