Why wouldn't many in the Middle East consider American conduct in the in region to be a big problem?

Iraq today is in ruins - its once advanced medical and educational infrastructure obliterated under the heel of American might.

The fact that the impetus for the invasion rested on a bedrock of lies only adds to the tragedy.

The debacle of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be laid squarely at the feet of the Bush Administration as it strove to reassert American influence in the region and stamp its dominance on the world stage - all this under the guise of dedication to human rights and democracy.

In order to achieve these ends it came up with a unilateral strategy of "Preventative War".

Noam Chomsky defined that the targets of preventative war must have several characteristics:
1. It must be virtually defenceless.
2. It must be important enough to be worth the trouble.
3. There must be a way to portray it as the ultimate evil and
an imminent threat to our survival.

Iraq and Afghanistan fitted the bill perfectly (as opposed to somewhere like Zimbabwe who, although it has a despotic leader, only meets the first characteristic).

The West has a checkered history of intervention in this region. Britain drafted many of the present day borders. America was instrumental in overthrowing the democratically elected government in Iran and installing the Shah.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the consensus among locals is that American intervention is not considered liberating or even stabilizing. America is understandably seen as the problem, not the solution.

thomasfromtacoma,

Well here's something about Afghanistan a few weeks after 911 and the day before the attack on Afghanistan started.

http://www.atimes.com/global-econ/CJ06Dj01.html

Sure there are always conflicts in the world but guess who always seems to have been involved in most of them?

rache,

<Sure there are always conflicts in the world but guess who always seems to have been involved in most of them?>

That'd be Islam.

Well duh poirot , I would be complaining like hell if Australia were invaded by the USA too but it’s not although I don’t know why as it needs a lesson in how to run democracy.
As Australia hasn’t got bill of rights or anything that resembles a constitution, and I am yet to see reference to a real one. Perhaps a reader might be able to provide a clink to a copy.
Common Rache you seem to be an aficionado on the USA surly you can find something a simple as the Australian constitution.
Maybe Hansard can get you a link, what a joke that is. The illusion that you have a democracy that is.!

The USA has a bill of rights that allows for political change to occur, not the fascist status Quo that exists in Australia. FACT not opinion!
Your country that went to a referendum to see whether it NEEDED a democracy! FACT not opinion!
Now that’s joke on monumental scale! Not only did you bumpkins hold a referendum to decide whether you needed a democracy you voted it out!! . FACT not opinion!
When you have to have the capability to change you might then qualify to criticize another countries politics.
So you will be holding your breath longer than I. FACT not opinion!