They Hate Freedom

... it's as simple as that, right?

The president and chief executive officer of the Zogby International polling organization, John Zogby, says the American image in the Arab world remains dismal - largely because of U.S. policy towards the region. The pollster believes there are ways the United States can improve its image among Arabs.

Speaking at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, John Zogby said many Arabs continue to "love Americans, but hate American policy." But, he says his most recent polling efforts in the region indicate that the negative view of U.S. policy could also be affecting attitudes about the country in general.

Speaking to VOA, Mr. Zogby said the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have damaged the U.S. image among Arabs.

"There has been a decline, since 2002, in Arab public attitudes towards the United States, in general, and towards aspects of the United States. There has been a slight rebound in 2004 from 2003 and, of course, we have not polled since the events in Iraq [the election and subsequent moves to establish a government] and the Palestinian elections and so on, but I suspect that there is still a lot of anger," he said.

... Oh. They don't hate Freedom as much as they hate how forcefully we want to impose our will upon them. Hm.

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