A Nation Alone
Even Our Friends Don't Share America's Image of Itself

By: R.C. Longworth

A big question since Sept. 11 has been: Why do they hate us?

That is, of course, the wrong question.

It's more important to know why so much of the world doesn't like us very much, or agree with us, or think we know what we're doing.

And these are our friends.

A startling new poll by the Pew Research Center shows that Americans simply see the world through different lenses than people in other countries, including those, like the Europeans, with whom we think we have most in common.

This is more than a popularity contest. If we see ourselves and the world differently than our potential allies do, we're going to have a terrible time agreeing with them on how to organize that world or building alliances to deal with world problems, including terrorism.

This wasn't a poll of the "Arab street" or Italian anarchists or Pakistani peasants. The pollsters went to the folks they called "influentials" - leaders in business, government, the media and culture in 24 countries on five continents. These are the people who are most likely to have studied or worked in America, know Americans, travel to America, feel comfortable with American ideas and values.

And still the two sides - Americans and the rest - inhabit such different worlds that the poll produced results like these:

The "influentials" were asked whether persons in their countries felt that U.S. policies and actions were a "major cause" of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Only 18% of the American "influentials", but no less than 58% of the non-Americans, said yes.

Asked whether the United States is overreacting to the terrorist attack, 42% of the non-Americans said yes. No American did.

There was general agreement abroad that, no matter what Washington says, the Bush administration is still running a unilateralist foreign policy. As for whether the U.S. is cooperating with other countries in the fight against terrorism and taking their interests into account, 70% of the Americans said yes, but only 33% of the non-Americans agreed.

The non-Americans were asked whether people in their countries had a good opinion of the United States, and nearly 70% said yes. This was highest in Western Europe - 81% - but not bad even in Islamic countries, where 52% of the people were said to be pro-American.

So far, so good. But the reasons for this popularity were eye-openers.

A majority of Americans, 52%, figure the world likes us because "the U.S. does a lot of good around the world". But only 21% of the non-Americans, and barely 12% of the Latin Americans, saw us as such nice guys.

Everybody - Americans and non-Americans alike - agreed that we're liked for our democratic ideals, or because we're the "land of opportunity".

But the real difference came when the "influentials" were asked whether America's "scientific and technological innovation" was a major source of our popularity. Americans tended to dismiss this, with only 32% seeing it as "a major reason". But more than two-thirds of the rest of the world - 63% of Europeans, 86% of Middle Easterners - disagreed, citing this as a major reason for their admiration of the U.S.

In other words, we're loved for our labs, not our good works.

Others Attracted to U.S.

This translates into a magnetic attraction. People from around the world want to come to the United States to study or work. We have skills and techniques they want to learn.

But this doesn't translate into an admiration of American policy, or a willingness to follow us in global adventures, or to assume that what's good for America is good for the world.

Specifically, the elites around the world were asked whether the U.S. and its allies should attack Iraq or Somalia if there is evidence that these countries have aided terrorism. Half the Americans said yes. Only 29% of the non-Americans agreed, a figure that didn't vary much between Europe and the Middle East.

This should come as no surprise. Experts in foreign policy have been warning for weeks that the anti-terrorism coalition cheering us on in Afghanistan will shatter if we go after Iraq or Somalia without a rock-solid reason. But the fact that this is still a live issue in Washington indicates that many administration leaders aren't listening.

The "influentials" also were asked why the U.S. stirs so much opposition, even hostility, around the world. About 70% of the Americans assumed the reason is U.S. support for Israel. Even more of the Americans, 88%, said it was based on resentment of our power. The rest of the world sees it differently, to say the least. Only 29% of the non-Americans thought Israel had much to do with it. Barely half said the world resents our power. But 52% said we are disliked because our leadership of the global economy has made the rich richer around the world and the poor poorer: In Europe, this share went up to 61%.

Why this perception gap? One reason, of course, is that a window always gives a better view than a mirror. No one ever thinks as highly of us as we do of ourselves.

But there are other reasons that apply, especially to the United States. Distance is important: We are 5,000 miles away from most other countries, protected by two oceans from outside opinion. Europeans hear daily from their neighbors: Most Europeans can easily tune in to telecasts from other countries. Not that we'd listen, even if we could. America's only two immediate neighbors are Mexico and Canada, and when did we last pay attention to what either of them thought?

The world's opinion is easily available these days, not only through British and French and Spanish broadcasts on cable TV but on the Web, where virtually any newspaper in the world can be easily accessed. This takes some curiosity, which apparently is in short supply, and often the ability to read other languages, which is scandalously rare in a country with global interests.

Even sophisticated Americans tend to ignore non-American opinion. David Halberstam's new book, "War in a Time of Peace", chronicles U.S. foreign policy in the 1990's. Halberstam, a demon reporter, interviewed no fewer than 148 people for the book. But all were Americans except a British professor who lives in New York. Apparently, Halberstam felt that a study of American foreign policy needn't consider the views of non-Americans, who have to live with the results of that policy.

Attitude of Power

More dangerous is the general American attitude, which seems to dominate Washington, that we're the most powerful country in the world, dammit, and we can do anything we want, no matter what the rest of the world thinks. This attitude, applied to policy, is called unilateralism and was more or less the official stance of the Bush administration before Sept. 11. On that day, we learned that angry foreigners can hurt us badly. Since then, the administration has talked a lot about the need to cooperate with other nations.

According to the Pew poll, this line is bought by American "influentials", who should know better. Outside the U.S., the people with whom we're supposed to be cooperating aren't convinced.

Immediately after Sept. 11, the world rallied to America's side. Our 18 NATO allies invoked a clause declaring that they, like the U.S., had been attacked. Countries as disparate as Japan and Canada promised all-out aid. The whole world felt threatened by terrorism and was begging to help us stamp it out.

So far, the Bush administration has accepted some help from Britain and little from anybody else. Global terrorism demands a global counterattack, partly with military coalitions but mostly through cooperation with other nations in police work, intelligence sharing, financial tracking, visa and immigration coordination, airport controls, even educational programs and anti-terrorist propaganda.

If we try to do this alone, we'll blow it. But other nations won't cooperate if we insist that they follow our dictate or ignore their own priorities and sensitivities, which often differ from ours. Already this attitude is causing us trouble: European nations, which oppose capital punishment for moral reasons they take very seriously, are warning that they might not extradite suspected terrorists for trial in the U.S. if the death penalty is a possibility.

At the very least, some of these nations have been fighting homegrown terrorism for years and just might have some better ideas.

But first, we have to listen.