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âBush greater threat than Bin Ladenâ
| I think we had a version of this a few days ago... |
 A panel reporting to the US State Department has warned that President George W Bush is seen in some Arab nations as a greater threat than Al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden, a US newspaper reported on Saturday.
| I'd call that a pretty accurate statement. Bush is much more of a threat to certain Arab states than Binny is. It's all connected with which side you're on... |
The report by the congressionally mandated advisory panel, which found that âAmericaâs image and reputation abroad could hardly be worseâ, has been seen by senior officials but not yet released publicly, The Washington Post said. A fact-finding mission to the Middle East last year found that âthere is deep and abiding anger toward US policies and actions,â according to the paper.
| Those U.S. actions include throwing Sammy out, killing Uday and Qusay, and trying to let the Iraqis have some personal freedoms. They've been resisted tooth and nail. |
The Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy cited polls that found that large majorities in Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia âview George W. Bush as a greater threat to the world order than Osama.â
| Perhaps because he's looked upon the world order and found it riddled with brutality and corruption. |
Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes, a longtime presidential adviser, prepares to leave this weekend on a âlistening tourâ of the Middle East. The panelâs report warns that televised images of US policy choices â such as in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the invasion of Iraq â reverberate across the Arab media and will âlong haunt the image of the United States,â the paper said. The committee recommended a series of steps, including increased funding and staffing, to rebuild efforts to promote US culture and ideas â an essential task that it said has been eroded through bureaucratic shuffling and indifference.
| I don't think the State Department has taken that particular aspect of the war as seriously as they could have. I've said, almost from day one, that we should be reminding our own people of the reasons we're at war. We should also be addressing the ridiculous statements periodically issued by the Learned Elders of Islam and the Sheikhs of Araby. We should also be pushing and explaining in excruciating detail the underlying idea of personal liberty. Instead, we've had periodic servings of warm milk. Ptui. |
In much of the world, the report said, the United States is viewed as âless a beacon of hope than a dangerous force to be countered,â according to the paper.
| I'm just not sure our enemies hating us is a bad thing... |
Posted by: Fred 2005-09-25 |
