Kabul, Sep 2 (Newswire): When was the last time the U.S. was an all-out, full-blown "good guy"?
Let's see ... Arab Spring? Nope, somehow we have managed to compound and enhance the negative image we have on the Arab Street. The number of young Arabs joining the ranks of anti-U.S., pro-militant Islamist groups grows every day.
Let's move back in time, to Iraq and Afghanistan. Ooops! We're not going to win any popularity contests there, either. This despite the fact that the U.S. managed to destroy the dictator Hussein in Iraq and finally assassinate Osama bin Laden.
Unfortunately, the main result of the Iraq war is that, without a dictator and/or U.S. military occupation, the country has cracked and broken into sectarian and tribal factions.
Iraq hovers near civil war, and on the street, it's the U.S. being blamed for the country's problems. There has been little recovery of the country's infrastructure, which simply decreases the ability of a central government to function.
Worse yet, killing bin Laden was a page out of Greek mythology: cutting one head off a many-headed Hydra. Al Qaeda is as strong as ever and currently is making inroads among the Syrian insurgents trying to oust dictator Assad.
Why is it that when a Middle Eastern, Islamic nation is "liberated" from the clutches of a dictator (whom the U.S. usually has been supporting) and is presented with the opportunity for free elections, the country moves toward militant, conservative Islam — such as in Tunisia and, most recently, in Egypt?
It's simple: Militant Islamic groups, from Hezbollah and Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood, have learned a crucial lesson on how to win friends and influence people; it's a lesson the U.S. appears to have forgotten.
Ironically, it may well have been the U.S. that taught this lesson to militant Islamists! The example goes back in recent global history, to immediately after World War II. Indeed, this event was undoubtedly the last time the U.S. was an unmitigated "good guy."
It was called the Marshall Plan, named after then-Secretary of State George C. Marshall, a former general in the European Command of World War II. An injection of 13 billion U.S. dollars was made over four years directly into the economies of Western Europe. The aim was to rebuild and modernize European industry and infrastructure.
Let's see ... Arab Spring? Nope, somehow we have managed to compound and enhance the negative image we have on the Arab Street. The number of young Arabs joining the ranks of anti-U.S., pro-militant Islamist groups grows every day.
Let's move back in time, to Iraq and Afghanistan. Ooops! We're not going to win any popularity contests there, either. This despite the fact that the U.S. managed to destroy the dictator Hussein in Iraq and finally assassinate Osama bin Laden.
Unfortunately, the main result of the Iraq war is that, without a dictator and/or U.S. military occupation, the country has cracked and broken into sectarian and tribal factions.
Iraq hovers near civil war, and on the street, it's the U.S. being blamed for the country's problems. There has been little recovery of the country's infrastructure, which simply decreases the ability of a central government to function.
Worse yet, killing bin Laden was a page out of Greek mythology: cutting one head off a many-headed Hydra. Al Qaeda is as strong as ever and currently is making inroads among the Syrian insurgents trying to oust dictator Assad.
Why is it that when a Middle Eastern, Islamic nation is "liberated" from the clutches of a dictator (whom the U.S. usually has been supporting) and is presented with the opportunity for free elections, the country moves toward militant, conservative Islam — such as in Tunisia and, most recently, in Egypt?
It's simple: Militant Islamic groups, from Hezbollah and Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood, have learned a crucial lesson on how to win friends and influence people; it's a lesson the U.S. appears to have forgotten.
Ironically, it may well have been the U.S. that taught this lesson to militant Islamists! The example goes back in recent global history, to immediately after World War II. Indeed, this event was undoubtedly the last time the U.S. was an unmitigated "good guy."
It was called the Marshall Plan, named after then-Secretary of State George C. Marshall, a former general in the European Command of World War II. An injection of 13 billion U.S. dollars was made over four years directly into the economies of Western Europe. The aim was to rebuild and modernize European industry and infrastructure.
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