This is a reprint of something I wrote before existed. It was pertinent at the time, but, disgustingly, has become even more relevant in the 13+ months since then.

Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America’s most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson.

Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials. Has "oderint dum metuant" really become our motto?

"Oderint dum metuant" was uttered by Lucius Accius, Roman tragic poet. In English, it's meaning is:
Let them hate so long as they fear.

Kiesling's question is more than pertinent; it's the essence of world opinion of the U.S. these days.

A survey of German citizens recently found that 57 percent agreed with the statement: "The United States is a nation of warmongers."

A Canadian survey found that almost seven in 10 believe the U.S. is "starting to act like a bully with the rest of the world."

Do the American people want to bully the rest of the world? Do we want the rest of the world to hate us, as long as they also fear us? Is that our self-image? It sure as hell isn't the attitude of the people I know, but it is the attitude our government is trying to push down the throats of the rest of our planet.

The U.S. now spends more on military might than the rest of the world combined, and we have military personnel in about 100 nations. We LOOK like a bully, and we ACT like a bully.

The rest of the world believes that Americans, because we live in a "free" country, have control of our government. They believe that if our government takes a position, the American people must favor that position. Why shouldn't they think that? This is the nation with a government "of the people". We're supposed to be in charge of our government.

In our own history, Americans have been harsh on citizens of other nations for actions taken by their governments. We couldn't imagine that German citizens in the 1930's couldn't see that they were being led by a maniacal despot. Weren't they paying any attention? We had much the same attitude about the people in the Soviet Union, and about the Japanese people for allowing their government's aggressions. We blamed the citizens of those countries for the actions of their governments. We called them names, imprisoned American citizens who happened to be of their nationality, and, in the case of Germany and Japan, our military mercilessly bombed their civilian populations.

Is there any reason, then, why people around the world should not now blame us for the actions of our government?

Should it surprise us that we're hated? Should it surprise us that, since we're far too powerful militarily to be attacked head on, that our civilian population should be attacked by "terrorists"?
Are we a big bully getting what we deserve?