Washington is incapable of being fair and balanced

The Israel Lobby co-author Steve Walt argues that the US needs to understand that its message is getting confused for many good reasons (killing civilians is always so messy):

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has reportedly penned a “searing critique” of efforts to improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world via “strategic communication.” According to the New York Times, Mullen argues that “we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate.”

Sounds right to me. Like most great powers, and especially dominant ones, the United States tends to believe that its motives are pure, that its noble aims are apparent to all, and that other peoples ought to be grateful for its self-less assistance. (Never mind that U.S. foreign policy is mostly driven by perceived self-interest, even if we don’t like to admit it to ourselves). If people overseas are mad at us, this must be due to a some sort of misunderstanding. If we just explained it to them a little better, they would support whatever it is we are doing, even if it involves reorganizing their way of life, helping select who runs their country, supporting various allies even when they are mis-behaving, or sending Predators or cruise missiles from afar to blow up suspected terrorist sites on their soil. And if anti-Americanism isn’t just a misunderstanding, it is because some misguided people “hate our values.” Whatever it is, it’s never our fault.

H/T Anthony Loewenstein