Unilateral U.S. Policies Are Hard to Explain

Re “America’s Got an Image Problem, Panel Warns,” July. 31: According to a report released by the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. is losing badly in the court of world opinion and needs to revolutionize the way it communicates its policies and ideas. Even though, as President Bush assures us, we are good people and a “force for good around the world,” we are often seen as “arrogant, self-indulgent, hypocritical, inattentive.... “ Conclusion: We haven’t explained ourselves well enough. We need the newly established Office of Global Communications, aimed at improving the nation’s image abroad.

Good heavens! Did the panel ever consider the possibility that we have a problem not of image but of substance, that in too many ways we are arrogant, self-indulgent, hypocritical and inattentive, and thus sometimes world opinion is all too justified?

Stanley R. Moore

Claremont

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Is it any wonder that there’s anti-U.S. sentiment throughout the planet? Unilateral U.S. policies since Bush took office have alienated friends, allies and much of the American public.

How can our country’s arrogant attitude toward the very real crisis of global warming, with its rejection of the Kyoto agreement, win the respect of our neighbors? When we burn 25% of the world’s fossil fuels with 4% of the population, how can we credibly argue against the pillaging of the rain forests? Why is the “personal freedom” of driving bloated SUVs more politically viable than environmental responsibility? How can we earn the respect of the Arab world when our bias in favor of Israel ignores the will of the U.N. and its call for the Israelis to leave the occupied territories? How can we earn the respect of the rest of the world when our foreign aid per capita is much lower than that of many less wealthy nations? On countless other issues, the U.S. has chosen to enforce its “we know best” policy because we have the economic and military might to do so. It’s time for Bush to realize that arrogance has a price and that no amount of public relations can erase the real damage our attitude is doing to the global environmental and political landscape.

Richard Plavetich

Laguna Beach