These people suck at foreign policy – Part One

The diplomatic failure associated with the War on Terror stands as one of the crowning fuckups of this Administration, and boy, there are quite a few from which to choose. Thanks in large part to a bullying approach to foreign policy and tone-deaf diplomacy, the Muslim world largely sees our anti-terrorism efforts and the war in Iraq especially, as being a war on Islam. Unfortunately, that blunder may carry the greatest consequences.

Roughly 8 in 10 people surveyed in Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, and Pakistan agreed that the United States is trying to "weaken and divide the Islamic world." Bush administration officials, including the president, have frequently said that they are doing nothing of the sort, and that they respect Islam as a great religion. These views are particularly troubling since they come from four countries that, traditionally, have had good relations with the United States and that play an outsize role in the politics of the Islamic world.

Wow - these countries are our allies even. This mistrust of the US will hamper American foreign policy in the Islamic world for a generation. Thus are the consequences of Bush’s stupid and arrogant behavior. I pray that the next President will be wise enough to exercise some humility and restraint. We have a lot of fences to mend.