Anti-Americanism from the halls of the White House

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    The following letter was sent from Germany.

    Many different people from the U.S. have asked me about ‘anti-Americanism’ abroad recently and what it’s like. Over the last seven weeks I’ve spent four of them abroad here in Europe and Asia, and now when I hear this question it reminds me of living in Arizona and having homebound easterners ask me how I stayed safe from rattlesnakes and Indian attacks.

    I’ve mentioned this ‘anti-Americanism’ concern by many U.S. citizens to several European residents. The last time was yesterday at lunch with someone from a film school in Germany. The American’s new perception that Europeans on the street are suddenly angry and threatening to us is always met here with some bewilderment. There is a sort of resigned acceptance that this is just one more in a line of seemingly bizarre attitudes and statements suddenly coming from their friends across the Atlantic.

    There just isn’t the same anger and personalization of the international political issues that we are experiencing in the U.S. The Bush administration policies that are so opposed by everyone I meet here are not attributed to U.S. citizens or even our government as a whole but to President Bush and those around him. As it was put to me yesterday, “How can the American people be held responsible for Bush’s actions when the voters didn’t even put him in office?”

    There are no government ministers here trying to whip up an anti-American fervor by advocating boycotts of California wines or proudly changing the names of cafeteria menu items that might indirectly refer to America.

    There are no belligerent European radio and television commentators berating Americans for forgetting that it was France that made it possible for our republic to survive and saved our founding fathers from the British noose or reminding us who presented us with our beloved Statue of Liberty 100 years later to celebrate our existence.

    Broadcast news here still treats news as information for the public without an overt agenda. It is not a machine that constantly promotes its self and upcoming war programming as if it were pre-game coverage for the Super Bowl. They don’t have the need to create enemy states from among their allies to generate fear, anger and viewership. In short there is no Fox News. It’s no wonder Europeans don’t get what’s going on in the minds of Americans.

    I’ve often been asked here and in Asia, by everyone from taxi drivers to business associates and friends, what I think will happen with the Iraq situation as if I might be able to shed some additional light on why George Bush seems so obsessed with invading Iraq. They’ve seen no credible evidence tying Iraq to Al Qaeda. They’ve seen no evidence of a viable nuclear program and no evidence of delivery systems for the biological weapons the U.S. provided Iraq years ago.

    They do understand why the U.S. is so concerned with world security, but do not understand why we’ve ignored the Palestinian situation and the nuclear weapons development programs in North Korea and Iran that are certain. The absence of any logical reasons as to why the U.S. must invade this particular Arab country at this particular time, leads many abroad to an unavoidable conclusion-Oil.

    The unprecedented involvement by the vice president and Bush’s other backers from the energy sector point to oil motivations to many of those who view from abroad. Basically, if the president’s actions make no sense from a political, economic, or national security standpoint, many conclude one should simply follow the money.

    Since I began traveling the world on a continuous basis almost 25 years ago, I’ve always felt proud of my country’s role in the world. I’ve always thought of the United States as a constant shining beacon that stood for hope and made the world a better place through attraction, not fear. I was taught in school this pride in America was well founded for, when it came to force, we would never impose our will on another people and when it came to war, we would never start a conflict.

    The only anti-Americanism I feel these days comes from our side of the Atlantic. And it comes from the halls of the White House.

    John A. Ridgway