Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=04/09/2003

TYPE=ON THE LINE SHORT #1

NUMBER=1-01307

TITLE=ANTI-AMERICAN TIDE?

INTERNET=Yes

EDITOR=OFFICE OF POLICY 619-0038

CONTENT= INSERTS IN DALET AND AUDIO SERVICES

THEME: UP, HOLD UNDER AND FADE

Host: This is On the Line, and I'm -------------. A U-S-led coalition has liberated the Iraqi people from the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. But before the fall of Baghdad, there were many protests against the war in Iraq.

Husain Haqqani is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He says a U-S reliance on military power rather than on the power of ideas is provoking anti-Americanism:

Haqqani: What the U-S has accomplished all over the world is envy and fear and it has not been able to create the love that it could have. If the U-S message to the world was: "We are powerful because of certain ideas. We are powerful because we adopted the Declaration of Independence, because we have a constitution that focuses on individual liberty." What has happened in the last few years in particular since the uni-polar moment arrived, that the U-S has spoken to the rest of the world in power terms rather than in idea terms.

Host: Michael Barone is a senior writer for U-S News and World Report magazine. He says that the U-S is hardly perfect, but has an admirable record of promoting the ideals of a free society:

Barone: When President Bush gave his State of the Union message, his first one in January 2002, he talked about the seven non-negotiable demands of human liberty. And he said that they apply to all peoples. I do think that the United States has a good record over the last one hundred years of spreading representative democracy, spreading the idea of trade across the world, freedom of speech, freedom of ideas, freedom of religion. Many places in the world have governments that observe these principles, many more today than was true a hundred years ago. In most of those cases, the United States played a role, sometimes a major role, sometimes a minor role, in giving people the seven non-negotiable demands of human liberty.

Host: Joshua Muravchik is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He says that the best way to deal with anti-Americanism is for the U-S to live up to its promise of democracy for the people of Iraq:

Muravchik: We're going to make a very big effort to implant a democratic system in Iraq. I think the outburst of anti-Americanism that we're seeing now is not going to disappear overnight. But if we can get to a point where there is a representative government in Iraq -- I'm talking a couple of years down the line -- when the U-S occupation is ended and there is a representative government in Iraq, and if the Iraqis own chosen leaders themselves make clear that they feel a sense of gratification that they were freed from the long nightmare of Saddam Hussein's regime and that they have a happier life now, then I think there's a good chance that there will be a lot of reconsideration.

Host: In Iraq, the crowds taking to the streets are pro-American, not anti-American. Iraqis have been welcoming coalition troops and celebrating their liberation from Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. For On the Line, I'm -------------.