A lot of these Middle Eastern issues that have been raised are a lot more complex than we make them out to be. I have met both Israelis and Palestinians, for example, who draw in the pent-up rage of 50 years of mutual oppression (in different forms) in demonizing the other side. From my point of view, neither party has a claim on our absolute affection. When I was in Syria, I met a university student whose ice-breaker line was "You are an American! I want to talk politics with you." From this conversation and others, I found that unquestionably the two biggest causes of anti-Americanism in the Arab world are the sanctions on Iraq (not the Gulf War, since Hussein himself is widely recognized for the dictator he is) and support for Israel. One notes that one of Bin Laden's primary motives is actually the fact we have troops in Saudi Arabia. That's not something either we or the Saudi government is willing to change. In addition, most people I talked to did a lot better job than most Americans at separating between people and government. Opposition to the American government's policies is overwhelming. Opposition to the American people per se, as manifested in the form of cultural prejudice, is far, far rarer and directed more at our wealth than anything else. And I see nothing hypocritical about complaining about, say a Chinese policy while reading a Chinese novel. I post these political notes because at times like this, we tend to fall back on our old, orientalist cliches: "Muslims/Arabs are enraged at modernity and the West, Muslims/Arabs support terrorism, etc." that are simply not true or cover up a very complicated picture. All societies are extremely complicated, as are all political relationships, etc. The set of issues which makes us unpopular in the Middle East is no different, and not the same for everyone there. And to be honest, I doubt any policy change would have affected this attack. Brian
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