ARABS SEEN AS "TERRORISTS", IT'S AN ETHNIC, CULTURAL AND A RACIST THING

Americans sympathise with Israel: Scholar

Doha • The average Joe on the street in the US will continue to sympathise with Israel as the Jewish state is perceived as a nation of Holocaust survivors and their descendants.
Speaking at the Four Seasons Hotel here yesterday, Dean of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service Robert L Gallucci said: "Americans have a deep sympathy for Israel's plight. Americans see Israel as surrounded by governments and violent groups dedicated to that country's destruction. The wars in the past have been defensive, a question of national survival."

While Israelis look similar to Americans, it is a sad fact that Arabs are seen as 'terrorists'. "This is an ethnic, cultural and to some degree, a racist thing," he said. The perceptions were compounded post-9/11.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the Palestinians are frowned upon. "There is general concern and the concern is growing, but slowly."

Gallucci's chosen topic yesterday was 'Crisis in the Middle East: A View from Washington', although he chose to totally digress from the theme at the outset and focus on the views of the American people.

Americans started waking up to the realities of the Palestinian situation once the images of teenagers being beaten up and atrocities being carried out by the Israeli Defence Force in the first intifada flashed across television screens. "Israel started looking like Goliath instead of David," he said.

Lebanon, however, is a different kettle of fish and a "complicated" issue. To the Americans, Hezbollah carried out unprovoked attacks. "They do not believe Hezbollah is acting in the best interest of the state or the people," said Gallucci.

However, when Americans saw the destruction caused by the Israeli retaliation, they saw it as disproportionate. "Even (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice was shaken,' he said.

President George W Bush has by and large been uncritical of anything Israel has done. "But Americans turned against him when Bush took a blocking position on a ceasefire. Americans were not sympathetic to this position. But while they were critical of Israel, it did not mean opinion shifted in favour of Hezbollah," Gallucci said.

9/11 served as an ideal 'opportunity' to enter Iraq as it provided linkage with talk of the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). Gallucci, who had access to the intelligence reports due to his then-position in government, said he also believed that Iraq had WMDs. However, he soon changed his mind a when it became clear that weapons were not being regenerated.

"It was all incorrect. There was no linkage to Al Qaeda, no linkage to 9/11 and no WMDs. Generally, I think people were duped by the Bush administration," he stated.
Gallucci's career with the US State Department included service on the UN Special Commission on Iraq. (UNSCOM).

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However, there is little demarcation between the thinking of the American public and the Bush administration when it comes to Iran. "Iran is characterised as a country that supports terrorists. It is a hegemonic threat to countries in the Gulf," Gallucci said.

Calling nuclear weapons a key issue vis-à-vis Iran, Gallucci said: "If negotiations do not take place, if no sanctions are imposed, the Bush administration would get worried."

And if the US resorted to force to break Iran given the present scenario, "possibly" the American people would support such a move.


This man teaches America's minds full of mush...

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1) Americans sympathise with Israel: Scholar