American Administration

Drafted by Erich Marquardt -- Source: www.pinr.com

Losing The Hearts and Minds

The most recent Pew Research Center for the People and Press poll, aimed at gauging global attitudes toward the United States, has found that Washington is losing its battle for the hearts and minds. Furthermore, not only are Muslim-majority countries alienated from Washington, but also U.S. allies who are becoming disenchanted with current U.S. foreign policy. The Bush administration cannot be happy with the results of this poll, as it shows that their administration has been a significant factor in the declining popularity of American foreign policy abroad.

In fact, the latest Pew poll shows that one event -- the war in Iraq -- had a remarkably profound impact on attitudes held toward the United States. In addition to inflaming the entire Arab world, the decision to invade Iraq created massive fallout with former U.S. allies, most notably France and Germany. Furthermore, and perhaps most seriously, the invasion of Iraq, following the game of power politics played by the Bush administration since their election, alienated the peoples of nearly every country and society throughout the world.

The Bush administration is concerned about the fallout created by the invasion of Iraq for a variety of reasons. By infuriating governments around the world, including many of their allies, the current administration will have a much harder time achieving future foreign policy objectives. Even though the administration has expressed its willingness to create "coalitions of the willing" to achieve foreign policy objectives, the administration still finds the confluence of U.S. foreign policy and international legitimacy important; this was most clearly seen with the administration's desire to secure U.N. approval before invading Iraq.

Even more worrying than upsetting governments around the world, the Bush administration has angered nearly the entire global population. Such a condition is certainly not favorable to U.S. interests, and the administration may be underestimating this significance. The danger in upsetting the global population is that it increases the chances of terrorist attacks against U.S. interests and possibly the U.S. homeland. Hatred of U.S. foreign policy has caused much of the recent terrorism against U.S. civilians, most notably in the September 11 attacks. Unfortunately for both the American government and the American people, this hatred and anger has been increasing steadily since the election of the Bush administration. The fallout from the policies of the Bush administration may take years to be realized, as more terror groups spring up due to current events, such as the invasion of Iraq. These groups will have little problem finding disaffected civilians who will be willing to strike back against the object of their hatred.

Indeed, in 1997 the Defense Science Board, an organization that reports directly to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, stated in a report, "historical data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States." Judging by that analysis, the United States government and its people will find themselves facing a precarious future. During the Bush administration's first major foreign intervention, in Afghanistan, the U.S. set up military bases throughout Central Asia, in countries whose populations were very hostile to the United States to begin with, and even more so now -- countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. The invasion of Iraq has stressed the situation even further, putting U.S. troops and military bases into the heart of the Middle East.

Yet it is not just the Middle East that the U.S. is becoming involved in. U.S. troops are also fighting guerrillas in the Philippines. It is less clear what the possible fallout will be from this intervention, considering that the most organized militant threats to U.S. interests now seem to be emanating from the Middle East and Central Asia; however, further U.S. commitment in Southeast Asia could certainly lead to organized attacks on U.S. interests in the region.

The Bush administration is aware of these vulnerabilities. Recently the administration decided to pull troops from Saudi Arabia, made possible, as articulated by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, due to the Iraq war. Saudi society is extremely hostile toward the United States and its military establishment. Fear of terror attacks on the U.S. military within Saudi society, such as was seen in Riyadh recently, prompted the Bush administration to find a new host for their main military forces in the Middle East. Currently many of those troops are in Iraq, and it is unclear how long they will remain there. In addition to removing the U.S. military presence from Saudi Arabia, the United States government has tried to keep a low profile on their presence in Central Asia, afraid that U.S. troops in the region will fuel more terrorism targeted at U.S. interests.

Yet these precautions are probably too conservative and will not cause a change in attitudes. As shown through successive polls on attitudes toward the United States in this region, and in the world, the Bush administration has so far failed to win over the hearts and minds in not only the countries of their political opponents, but in allied countries as well. This failure will not bode well for U.S. interests. With the United States economy and society being so advanced, it is highly vulnerable to acts of terrorism. The Bush administration's argument that it will be able to militarily defeat "terrorism" against U.S. interests is not convincing, especially since the administration has done nothing to alleviate the very concerns that have spawned these terrorist acts in the first place.