“Mr. Obama, Tear Down this Façade:” Why the Arab Nations Hate the United States, Part 1

The year was 1967.  The world watched as the small nation of Israel went to war with its neighbors.  But in Cold War reality, the world also watched as East fought West.   However, little did everyone know that this proxy war would have so much more at stake than just territory or rights.  The end result shaped the Arab perceptions of the West and specifically the United States.   Fawaz A. Gerges,  a professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, argues that “the Six Day War had a devastating , negative impact on Arab views regarding the U.S. role.”  Perhaps more telling is Gerges’ later revelation that “as a result [of American support for Israel in the Six Day War], Arab nationalist did not trust the United States to act as a neutral mediator in the quest for peace.”¹

The year is 2012.  Anti-American violence thrives in the Middle East.  And for the first time since February of 1979 in Kabul, Afghanistan (33 years ago), an American ambassador was attacked and murdered while in office.²  Ambassador Chris Stevens died in Libya on September 11.  All the while, Washington has been operating under the auspices that the negative perceptions of the U.S. will be changed primarily by rhetoric.  However, what many people, especially those in the Middle East, have found is that rhetoric is futile if it does match a coherent policy for the region.  For many Arabs, the fact that perceptions have been set since the ‘60s makes it exceptionally difficult to change them without a radical shift in U.S. support of Israel – and it is naïve to assume anything else will serve as the magic bullet.  The situation is not hopeless, only bleak without a clear direction and vision from the top.  If we have learned anything from the history of the Middle East, it is that actions shape perception, not talk.  Clearly.

¹David W. Lesch, ed., The Middle East and the United States: A Historical and Political Reassessment, (Westview Press: Boulder, Colorado), 2003.  Gerges’ chapter is on pages 191-210.  The above quotes come from pages 191 and 204.

²Ambassador Arnold L. Raphel was actually the last sitting U.S. ambassador to die in office.  He died in a suspicious plane crash in Pakistan in 1988.  However, Adolph Dubs was the last victim of a direct attack in 1979 as mentioned above.