What is the perception of the Americans and British in the Arab world?
There is a widespread perception in the West and elsewhere that the Arabs are viscerally anti-American. That is not true. Anti-Americanism is not based on hatred of modernity; it is directed at American policy towards the Arab world. To most people, the official US is synonymous with arrogant power. The Arabs see the Iraq venture as part of the American desire to extend its hegemony, a kind of Pax American. Iraq has the second largest oil reserve in the world. The US obviously is eyeing the Iraqi oil. Israel too is hoping that an old oil pipeline that connected Iraq to Haifa in Israel even before Israel was born would be reopened. It is for the first time that the US has occupied an Arab country. Do you feel that American forces are there to stay in Iraq or will they be made to pack up at some stage? My gut feeling is that Americans will find it difficult to extricate themselves from Iraq. In your opinion why is it that though there are several strong Arab countries and they are contro
