What it's really all about

The United States never understood what the Vietnam war was about. We talked of dominoes and communism but it was really all about throwing off Western Imperialism. The Vietnamese didn't set out to create a communist country but simply to throw out the abusive French Imperialists. When the French left the United States stepped in. In Freeing Ourselves to Take Bold Diplomatic Action" Robin Wright makes the same point about the middle east and western policy there. The United States is perceived as the abusive enemy. The flag of communism has been replaced by radical Islam but the goal is the same. The people in the region can see very well that what the US says and what the US does are not the same.

A year ago, in his major speech on the Middle East, Bush warned that it would be "reckless to accept the status quo" in the region. "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe," he said at the National Endowment for Democracy. Without political change, the region "will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export."

Yet many in the Muslim world -- even admirers of the United States -- believe the Bush administration still charts Middle East policy with a double standard. It wants democratic change in Egypt, but it also wants President Hosni Mubarak's loyalty and intervention on Arab-Israeli peace. It wants Saudi Arabia to open up politically, but it also wants the royal family to crack down on Islamist dissidents and do whatever it takes to protect the oil fields. It wants free and fair elections in Iraq, but it also wants a pro-American government that will write a constitution to our liking.

Arabs, Persians and others no longer believe that Washington is well intentioned or that its goals will benefit them. Over the past four years, trust in the United States has plummeted from over 50 percent in key countries to the single digits, according to University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami, who has polled the region. The antipathy was evident at the first "Forum for the Future" in Morocco this month. Muslim allies virtually rebuffed a dialogue with U.S. and European officials on democracy, largely on the grounds that other issues, such as the 56-year Arab-Israeli conflict, were their priority.

Once again the Western World and the United States don't understand what the problem is or what the residents of the middle east are fighting for. As the residents of Fajulla begin to return to their city that was destroyed by US forces violence is increasing. An indication that it was not a few thousand "insurgents" that were the problem but the entire city of 300,000. The US is an occupying enemy to a majority of Iraqis'.

The central question is whether the open-ended timeline -- keeping the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq until the country is stabilized -- is still feasible or even practical. U.S. troops are increasingly targets. The attack last week on a U.S. base in Mosul, killing 22 and injuring 69, was the bloodiest of the war. The coalition is crumbling; Hungary pulled out its troops last week, while Poland, Holland and others plan to withdraw within six months .

The longer U.S. troops stay, the more Iraqis -- and others -- see the U.S. presence as an occupation. Some analysts question whether the United States has enough troops to achieve its mission any time soon. And the destruction left in the city-by-town-by-village hunt for insurgents has spawned wider anger.

"The United States has been depleting its military strength, diplomatic leverage, and treasure to pursue a worthy but unrealistic aim," writes Edward Luttwak of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in next month's issue of Foreign Affairs. "Given the bitter Muslim hostility to the presence of U.S. troops -- labeled 'Christian Crusaders' by the [Muslim] preachers -- their continued deployment in large numbers can only undermine the legitimacy of any U.S.-supported Iraqi government."

No government that is propped up by US troops will be seen as legitimate. After years of supporting friendly tyrants in the middle east and supporting the actions of Israel the United States cannot have any positive impact in the middle east. The US has become the problem, not the solution.