Great... Now, tell me something I don't know for a change. I mean, who would expect this coming? Ever since the beginning of the war on Iraq, we thought that the Iraqi people would greet the Coalition troops with flowers and candy, though I hate to say that the Iraqis saved those flowers for other purposes. This is due to the worsening conditions in the nation, with increasing violence and a deployment of "divide and conquer" tactics on part of the Coalition. Then, of course, the elections came around, but those didn't curb the increasing violence that ensued afterwards. One could only hope that this civil strife doesn't conflagrate to nearby MidEastern nations... God, I hope not.
Anyways, two organizations, Zogby International (owned by Arab-American James Zogby) and United Press International (owned by some other guy I don't know), published two separate polls which show that Arab distrust of the U.S. government has increased. This is nothing new, really: Al Jazeera published many polls like this before... not that this is anything new. But with the recent war on Lebanon and the increasing raids in Gaza that go unabashed, the American government remains blind to the Arab public that it supposedly wants to help. For this alone, we can see why Arabs would hate the U.S. government even more than they did before. Zogby's poll is quite revealing itself: if anything, negative attitudes were on the rise, especially towards American "freedom/democracy" and whatever else is American in general (of which the latter I tend to have a neutral opinion on).
In interpreting it further, we have Tom Regan of the Christian Science Monitor, who published these findings online. Before we continue, I'd like to highlight the skeptical accuracy of polls, as mentioned by Regan here:
Anyways, two organizations, Zogby International (owned by Arab-American James Zogby) and United Press International (owned by some other guy I don't know), published two separate polls which show that Arab distrust of the U.S. government has increased. This is nothing new, really: Al Jazeera published many polls like this before... not that this is anything new. But with the recent war on Lebanon and the increasing raids in Gaza that go unabashed, the American government remains blind to the Arab public that it supposedly wants to help. For this alone, we can see why Arabs would hate the U.S. government even more than they did before. Zogby's poll is quite revealing itself: if anything, negative attitudes were on the rise, especially towards American "freedom/democracy" and whatever else is American in general (of which the latter I tend to have a neutral opinion on).
In interpreting it further, we have Tom Regan of the Christian Science Monitor, who published these findings online. Before we continue, I'd like to highlight the skeptical accuracy of polls, as mentioned by Regan here:
The surveys, conducted in November, surveyed 3,500 Arab adults in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
Well, 3,500 adults in each nation might make sense, but each nation mentioned has a population that is a thousand-fold bigger than the sample size taken in the poll. However, Regan would have known this and taken that earlier polls had either the same sample size or even a smaller sample size. He cites the Washington Times, which reported that in the past,
Mr. Zogby said he first noticed a distinct shift in 2004. In the 2006 survey, only a plurality of Lebanese polled expressed a favorable view of the American people, with 44 percent approving and 18 percent expressing unfavorable views.
The American people are viewed least favorably in Saudi Arabia, where 18 percent said they had a favorable opinion and 34 percent expressed an unfavorable opinion. At the same time, 50 percent of Saudis say they like American products, compared with 24 percent who do not ...
Middle Eastern poll respondents cited the Iraq war and perceived US support for Israel over the Palestinians as their biggest concerns.
Of course, nothing surprising there. I tend to take polls with a grain of salt, as many have been shown to be faulty (such as the famous bollocks of a Daily Telegraph poll which showed that 53% of Britons feel that Islam is a threat to the West).
James Zogby himself commented on the results, saying,
James Zogby himself commented on the results, saying,
"If America wants to salvage itself and improve its standing and get the credibility and legitimacy it needs to lead in Iraq, it needs to do something to earn the trust of allies in the broader region."
Well, of course the American government needs to earn that trust, but from what I see, it's not going to be an easy path, considering that the American government has an impressive track record of 50+ years in accumulating and earning distrust of the Arab people towards the American government. Such a long time eventually lead to a substantial portion of the Arab population hating not just the American government, but also anything that hinted at being commercially American.
But it's not going to be easy for the American government to salvage this trust from the bloodied corpses of dead Iraqis, Lebanese and Palestinians, the heap of rubble of destroyed homes and buildings, and the despair in the souls of those who were rendered destitute as a result of American interventionism, in whatever form it came over these Goddamned 50+ years of aggression and support of aggression against Arabs.
Salaam, from Saracen
But it's not going to be easy for the American government to salvage this trust from the bloodied corpses of dead Iraqis, Lebanese and Palestinians, the heap of rubble of destroyed homes and buildings, and the despair in the souls of those who were rendered destitute as a result of American interventionism, in whatever form it came over these Goddamned 50+ years of aggression and support of aggression against Arabs.
Salaam, from Saracen
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