Posted on 08/07/2006 5:33:18 PM PDT by Graybeard58
CAIRO, Egypt -- Anger toward America is high, extremists are on the upswing and hopes for democracy in the Middle East lie dashed. The Lebanon war is creating dangerous ripples in the war on terror, the future of Iraq -- even the effort to keep nuclear weapons from dangerous hands.
"America, we hate you more than ever," Ammar Ali Hassan wrote in the independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, in the kind of visceral, slap-in-the-face rhetoric boiling across the region.
So far, the violence has not led allies to take steps that directly hurt America's strategic interests, such as forcing the military from its regional headquarters in Qatar or its naval base in Bahrain. And there are those who see the conflict as the bloody but necessary prelude to a real assessment by the Arab world of its choices: democracy and peace, or Islamic extremism and warfare.
Yet so far, almost every U.S. and European goal for the region -- keeping oil prices stable, promoting democracy, fighting extremists, strengthening moderates -- is suffering.
Jordan's pro-American King Abdullah gave the sharpest warning last week: Even if Hezbollah loses the military battle, its rising popularity among Arabs mean a like-minded group could pop up anywhere in the Middle East, even in his own country.
Others worry terror groups may already be directly benefiting. Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader has called on supporters to wage holy war against Israel in a clear effort to turn the hostility to its advantage.
More broadly, a wide swath of even progressive, middle-class people across the Mideast are outraged at the Israeli bombing of Lebanon and in part blame the United States. That means the long-sought U.S. effort to win Arab and Muslim "hearts and minds" -- so crucial to fighting terrorism -- has suffered a huge blow.
The signs are everywhere grim:
-- Moderates such as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have become almost irrelevant. All hope of an Israeli-Palestinian "land for peace" deal lie in tatters for the foreseeable future.
-- Iran has received a prestige boost as a key Hezbollah backer, and it has gained some relief from its own problems: U.N. efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions still limp along, but have taken a back seat.
-- The effort to calm Iraq has been "complicated," because the Lebanon war has boosted the prestige of Shiite extremists who are pushing Iraq toward civil war, said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.
The fighting even led to tension between Washington and Iraq's Shiite moderates, when the country's prime minister was harshly criticized by Democrats for condemning only Israel, not Hezbollah.
-- The push for democracy in other Arab regimes, already stalled, has ground to a halt. The U.S. is unlikely to pressure allies such as Saudi Arabia or Egypt for reform when it needs their help to end the crisis. Even many Arab reformers now believe the U.S. cares more about supporting Israel than anything elsey.
Not everyone thinks U.S. goals are in a muddle.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believes the fighting, though painful, is the "birth pang of a new Middle East."
-- meaning the bloodshed and disarming of Hezbollah are required before the region can move toward peace.
There is indeed a widely held view that the Arab world needs a shakeout before it can make progress toward democracy or peace -- to decide if it wants to follow Hezbollah and Iran or moderates such as the Palestinians' Abbas.
President Bush hinted at that when he called the Israel-Hezbollah fight part of a "a larger struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror."
Still others believe some of the Arab support for Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, could wane once the bombing ends and those in Lebanon take a hard look at the damage.
William Brown, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, contends America and Europe could seize an opportunity if Israel managed to disable Hezbollah temporarily. Brown said the U.S. should try to push a comprehensive peace plan that involves Israel, the Palestinians, Syria and Iran once the fight is over.
But he is skeptical the United States has the ability or will.
"I wouldn't like to see Nasrallah emerge as a hero in all this," Brown said. "But it's a distinct possibility."
Anger toward Americans high among Democrats.
isn't it always.....jealousy
Uh-huh... Well, it's time to man up and show them what happens when real Americans finally get enough.
At some point, sad to say, we are going to have to reek a bunch of havoc if we want to survive. They need to know this before it is too late.
""America, we hate you more than ever," Ammar Ali Hassan wrote in the independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, in the kind of visceral, slap-in-the-face rhetoric boiling across the region."
Kiss my grits, you diseased camel flea. I hope you hate us a lot more in the coming months. That assumes we have the nads to let Isreal complete the job.
God Bless Isreal, doing the work us politically correct bastards wont do.
01
Perhaps, but i dont think anyone of us should be afraid of them... unless their bodies are hard enough for bullets to go through... They think they're fearsome enough 'coz they cause some of the most brutal murders in the modern world but what if the infidels do those things? Not even Coffee Annan can help them! But good for them the infidels are too civilized to give all attention to them. That's why these ragheads are noisy. "Attention Infidels... We will kill you! Listen! listen! Hey... please!"
Woof!
She can steal this thread, or any other thread, anytime!
This doesn't bother me a bit. With the exception of your own home, its probably better to be feared than loved anyway. Its when they hate you and aren't afraid that you have to watch out.
Of course, liberals can't sleep at night knowing that some yahoo 6,000 miles away doesn't "love" them.
How about doing something about it, little King, instead letting it "pop out even in your little fiefdom"
As a side note King Abdullah, how about you and your cohorts in the Middle East come to some agreement to rid yourself of those cockroaches of Hezbollah,Fatah, Al-Qaida etc. instead wringing your hands, whine, piss and moan about the Israelis doing YOUR job.
It is so pathetic that all those all mighty Arab Countries are afraid standing against the mean Hezbollah, while this puny country of Israel the size of Los Angeles County is kicking the sh!t out of Hezbollah.
Bottom line is very simple. What we're dealing here is a bunch of cowards and impotent nations unable to find their rear ends with a flash light and a GPS.
>I suggested in conversation that the world is recreating the precarious conditions of the 1930's that led to the deaths of millions in the Second World War.<
And if the EU3, Russia and China joins the Islamicfascists against the U.S.A. and Israel, and does not face this giant threat against freedom and survival with us, we will not be there to again save their sorry butts when the Islamicfascists turn against them.
Yawn. Boilerplate anti-Americanism.
I'm pretty pissed off, too, but nobody's asking me.....
Which is directly proportional to my indifference toward the rest of the world.
For what it's worth...B.O. hates you, you mohammadian jerk.....matter of fact...B.O. ain't fond of any mohammadian.
If our government wasn't infested with p.c. wimps, egypt would really, really hate us.
"America, we hate you more than ever,"
So they are mad at us, is that what your telling me?
I love it when they talk nasty to me!
Right, oh yeah...they LOVED US ON 9/11, but they REALLY REALLY REALLY hate us now.
Nothing has changed...they hated us during the clintoon era too. Yawn.
Anger toward America is high.
They would give their right nut to live here.
Thats too baaaad..
I have a response to those on the Arab street that are angry with us. Stay as angry as you want to be. I do not much care. But be real careful that your anger does not cause you to do something that makes us angry. You do not want to go there -- trust me.
Last time you did something like that we gave you a time-out. Took away your toys in Afghanistan and Iraq. But that is our only warning. The next time, we might respond like we did with the Germans and Japanese 60 years ago. Then we torched entire cities in order to make sure they would not bother us again -- and they have not.
Americans are quick to forgive and slow to anger. I would not have it any other way. But when we get angry -- really angry? Trust me. Do. Not. Go. There. You won't like what you get. Big time.
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