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"I have never known a time in my life when America and its President were more hated around the world than today," Friedman
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By
Mustafa Abdel-Halim, IOL staff
CAIRO,
May 7 (IslamOnline.net) - The overwhelming majority of people who
responded to a questionnaire by IslamOnline.net said they were against
American administration only, not the American people.
Of
the 10675 respondents, a clear majority of 80.82 per cent said they
are against the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush only,
according to the questionnaire released Friday, May 7.
On
the other hand, some 19.18 per cent said they are against both the
American administration and American people.
The
poll came as the Bush administration is mired in a human rights
scandal after news outlets released photos
of American soldiers meting out torture and abuse to Iraqi detainees,
and after more than one year of occupying the oil-rich country.
One
of the photos show an Iraqi detainee standing in a box with his both
hands attached to electric wires.
Another
image, taken during the period from the summer of 2003 through the winter, a soldier is
seen holding a leash tied around the neck of a naked Iraqi detainee
grimacing and lying on the floor.
More
photos were splashed showing a naked man handcuffed to a bunk bed, his
arms splayed so wide that his back is arched.
The
photos are seen as a further visual evidence of chaos and
un-professionalism at the prison detailed in a report by Army Maj.
Gen. Antonio M. Taguba.
Taguba’s
report, also carried by the paper, found "numerous incidents of sadistic,
blatant, and wanton criminal abuses " that were inflicted
on detainees.
Several
American citizens wrote Saturday, May 1, to
IOL Guest Book saying they were "ashamed" of
and "disgusted" at the recently disclosed pictures showing
their troops sexually abusing and torturing Iraqi detainees.
Hate
The
poll results also revealed a growing anti-American administration
sentiments in the world after the photo scandal and the Iraq
occupation without fining any weapons of mass destruction - the main
reason for invading the country.
"I
have never known a time in my life when America and its President were
more hated around the world than today," famous columnist Thomas
Friedman wrote in the New York Times Thursday, May 6.
"I
was just in Japan, and even young Japanese dislike us. It's no wonder
that so many Americans are obsessed with the finale of the sitcom
"Friends" right now. They're the only friends we have, and
even they're leaving," Friedman said.
Japan
deployed troops to Iraq at Washington’s request, despite the popular
uproar over the move among the Japanese.
Friedman
lamented that the Americans are in danger of "losing America as
an instrument of moral authority and inspiration in the world".
"This
administration needs to undertake a total overhaul of its Iraq policy;
otherwise, it is courting a total disaster for us all," he wrote.
American
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is facing growing pressures to
resign over the U.S. military abuse of Iraqi detainees, for which Bush
said he felt "sorry".
“Bushfour
Promise”
The
increasing unpopularity of the Bush administration also came a few
weeks after the American President broke with a decades-old U.S.
policy over the Middle East policy, a much of concern to IOL readers.
Bush
said after talks with Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon Wednesday, April
15, Israel
could keep Palestinian territories occupied in
the 1967 war, and that Palestinian refugees should not be allowed to
return to their homes in what is today Israel.
The
statements were widely slammed another Balfour promise to Israel - has
drawn ire as the U.N. resolutions affirm that
Israel should end occupation of occupied Arab, including Palestinian
territories captured after the 1967 war.
Thirty-two
draft resolutions criticizing Israel since 1972 have
never seen the light because the U.S. used its
Security Council veto to block them, the Guardian reported on
September 24.
