Where have all the flowers gone?

According to a commentary in the July 29 Daily Star (Lebanon), a

public opinion poll in six Arab countries ... showed a sharp and continuing slide in America's standing among Arab citizens. ...

In Saudi Arabia, for example, a naturally conservative society that very easily adopts many aspects of American lifestyles and technology, the approval rating of the US in the period 2002-2004 dropped from 12 percent to 4 percent. In Egypt the drop was from 15 to 2 percent, and in Jordan from 34 to 15 percent. ...

The evidence continues to pour in, week after week, poll after poll: the five pillars of US policy in the Middle East are all seen by the Arab people of this region to be unfair and imbalanced, favoring Israel and autocratic Arab leaderships, and harming the sentiments and interests of ordinary Arabs who otherwise embrace most aspects of American life and values. The five pillars that all generate powerful anti-American sentiments are the Arab-Israeli conflict, the regime change and occupation of Iraq as part of the "war on terror," calls for reform, support for non-democratic regimes, and threats against other countries or parties in the region for their alleged WMD plans.

I said it in a letter to friend dated October 19, 2001:

So much we could have done differently, so much we could do differently. And none of it is happening. It's really, really depressing.

It still is. Is it due to ignorance? To the arrogance of power? To deception and deceit in pursuit of imperial aims?

Yes, I think so.