Quote Originally Posted by Lady's Human
Defeatist? No. Realist? Yes.

If we focus on whether the countries in the Middle East "like " or "Hate " the US we've already lost. This is warfare, not a public opinion survey. Our first wars as a nation were with arab states(Barbary wars), and they haven't exactly been buddies at any time in the intervening centuries.

The US hasn't been liked for decades. We have very few reliable allies, and have never had more than a handfull we could really trust. Most of our cold war allies were allies of convenience, and while some have remained allies in name, few will back the words with actions.

And you may have heard....GW himself has mentioned it a few times....Saddam and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11... although it is very effective to scare people by linking the two. Not very honest...but effective.