Living In USA

World sympathy for the United States was genuine and heartfelt in the weeks following 9/11. When the U.S. military dismantled the Taliban in Afghanistan and destroyed the camps used to train terrorists, the world largely supported us. But the U.S. decision to launch a pre-emptive, all-out war in Iraq, despite the reservations of much of the world, has inflamed passions against the United States. Even some of our staunchest allies no longer support us.

This is not to say that George W. Bush made the wrong decision when he opted to invade Iraq without the world's support. The point is that regardless of what any of us thinks about the decision to go to war when we did (and the way we did it), we must accept the fact that much of the world disapproves of our action. This shift in the way the rest of the world views us will have a profound effect on our relationships for many years to come. Within eighteen months of the French newspaper Le Monde's headline, "We are all Americans," an overwhelming portion of the world no longer views us with sympathy, but with fear and distrust.

The torture and other abuses of Iraqi prisoners have further eroded the world's opinions of the United States — and, I daresay, our opinions about ourselves. The claim of moral authority, long suspect to much of the world, is at last being widely questioned at home as well.