Anti American

Obama administration officials have pledged to talk to world leaders no matter their views. On Tuesday, they showed the offer extends to Islamists who spend the day denouncing America from the street corners. U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke met with Liaqat Baloch, a leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami party. About an hour later, as the bearded scholar prepared to depart for an anti-American rally across town, the veteran diplomat said that despite their disagreements, the meeting had begun "a very useful dialogue."

As 16 U.S. citizens await trial in Egypt for accepting foreign financing to promote democracy, for the first time in more than 30 years there is a serious debate in Washington about whether to end the $1.3-billion annual military assistance to Cairo. There's no debate in Egypt, however. More than 70% of Egyptians, according to a recent Gallup poll, no longer want U.S. funding. By deciding to prosecute Americans, post-Mubarak Egypt has intentionally provoked a bilateral crisis. But the legal assault on U.S.-funded nongovernmental organizations and personnel is merely a symptom of a larger, more serious problem.

In response to Feb. 9 letter writer Llewellyn Moses, who was viciously critical of Randy Newman and his anti-war song, "Lines in the Sand": I would like to suggest that it is Moses who is out of line in referring to Newman as "anti-American." It is, instead, "anti-American" to deny another American his or her opinion. What if Saddam Hussein also believes as Moses does--e.g., "My country right or wrong"? ARTIE KANE Los Angeles

A decision by the United States to suspend $800 million in military aid to Pakistan is both understandable and regrettable. Understandable because this country clearly feels the need to respond to provocations unworthy of an ally, but regrettable because the suspension could have the effect of increasing anti-Americanism in Pakistan and complicating joint efforts to fight terrorism. In discussing the cutoff, White House Chief of Staff William Daley said that Pakistanis "have taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which we were giving to their military.

I applaud the decision by U.S. Ambassador Vernon A. Walters, Pearl Bailey and the entire U.S. delegation to walk out during Ortega's anti-American tirade at the United Nations (Part I, Oct. 9). Walters and Bailey expressed the feelings of many Americans who are tired of the U.N. being used as a sounding board for anti-American sentiments. For too long the U.N. has been a platform for launching attacks on our country, citizens and leaders. Walters, Bailey and the others in the delegation sent a signal to the rest of the world; the U.S. will no longer be used as a doormat and we will not tolerate lies and derision by foreign dictators.

In his May 4 letter, Manuel Garcia y Griego [rebuts] another letter writer's comments of "one flag, one language" for America, calling it "enforced homogeneity of political views." He adds that the Latinos demonstrating outside the Santa Ana courthouse were exercising free speech and it may be found scary or at least alienating. Perhaps he could tell us just how many flags are suitable and how many languages are required to coexist under the new interpretations of our Constitution.

Re "A Cult by Any Other Name: Al Qaeda," Commentary, Nov. 29: In comparing Al Qaeda with a cult and Osama bin Laden to Charles Manson and Jim Jones, Norah Vincent grossly underestimates the depth and vitriol of anti-American sentiment permeating the Arab and Muslim worlds. Vincent forgets that instead of expressing compassion for the victims of Sept. 11 and their families, some Arabs and Muslims celebrated passionately. She forgets that instead of encouraging Muslims to follow the ways of peace, clerics expressed open support for Bin Laden and spouted anti-American hatred without any fear of condemnation from moderate Muslims.

Re "U.S. Shutters Iraqi Newspaper," March 29: "The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq on Sunday closed a newspaper sponsored by a popular anti-American Shiite cleric, accusing it of creating unrest and inciting violence against occupation forces." The reason for the closure stated in a letter from L. Paul Bremer III, U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, was that the newspaper had published articles "impugning the work of the coalition or lying about activities of the U.S.-led occupation forces in ways that were likely to inflame anti-American feelings."

As a retired Marine officer and Vietnam veteran, I want to make sure that the public realizes that all of us aren't extremist nuts like Rep. Bob Dornan. Don't the majority of Americans now feel that our involvement was a mistake? If Bill Clinton and others who opposed the war had been listened to, it would have saved me a lot of unpleasantness and dead friends. Perhaps people like Dornan confuse opposition to the war with condemnation of those who had to fight in it. Everyone who had a principled objection to the war wasn't anti-American.

Re "Beware the Barbies at the Gate," Commentary, Jan. 24: First, if America truly ran the world, as Norah Vincent so childishly implies of American foreign policy, something of the magnitude of the World Trade Center act would never have happened. Second, it is the arrogance of people who put out statements like that which fans anti-American flames here and abroad. Jingoist garbage and propaganda during times of international unrest are the equivalent of trying to extinguish a forest fire with gasoline.

It was only a matter of time after the arrest in New York of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges before the America-bashing would begin in France. On day one, the scandal involving the International Monetary Fund chief and a hotel maid brought shock and stupefaction. Day two, shame and self-pity. By day three, France was looking for a messenger to shoot, someone to blame for the likely political loss of the Socialist Party leader many believed would be the next president.

President Obama's first visit to South America, which begins this week, is intended to shore up relations with countries in the region. But one major ally is conspicuously absent from his agenda: Colombia. The White House has publicly explained the decision to bypass the country by saying Obama will visit Colombia next year when President Juan Manuel Santos hosts the Summit of the Americas. That explanation, however, doesn't tell the whole story. In fact, the president's decision to skip the Andean nation probably has more to do with the proposed free-trade agreement that has languished in Congress for nearly three years.

For over 30 years, Peggy Ford Waldo has carefully catalogued the history of this high-plains town of lofty grain elevators and vast, pungent cattle pens. She knows its major crops, its legacy of temperance and its deep religious roots. And she knows something else — Greeley's strange connection to radical Islam. As historian at the town museum, Waldo has become an unexpected expert on Sayyid Qutb, known as "Osama's brain" and the chief ideologue behind the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now scrambling to secure a foothold in Egypt's new government.

What Egypt needs now, before anything else, is free parliamentary elections that can help capitalize on the momentum in Tahrir Square and give the opposition a position from which it can dictate the pace of reform. This is not something the Egyptian regime wants. Instead, Vice President Omar Suleiman would love to sit down with a wide spectrum of opposition groups ? some meaningful, many regime puppets ? and preside over negotiations for a new Egyptian constitution. He'll make sure the talks aren't just about those bits relating to the power of the president or the ability of the police to have their way with citizens.

A Pakistani judge Tuesday barred authorities from releasing an American Consulate official accused of double murder despite the U.S. government's insistence that diplomatic immunity shields him from prosecution. Five days after Raymond Davis shot to death two Pakistani men in the eastern city of Lahore in what he said was self-defense, authorities here showed no signs of bowing to demands from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad that the 36-year-old be freed because he is a diplomat and therefore cannot be tried on criminal charges.

An undercurrent of anger against the United States appears to be building here because of what many see as the Obama administration's overly cautious response to the demands of protesters for the resignation of longtime U.S. ally President Hosni Mubarak. Anti-American sentiment in Egypt has percolated just below the surface in Egypt for years, exacerbated by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Washington's steadfast support for Israel. While the current level of public antipathy remains relatively low, anti-U.

It's more than a little ironic that the same Arizona Legislature that spearheaded a ruthless, racially charged campaign against illegal immigrants also banned K-12 ethnic studies classes on the grounds that they promote hatred and division. Who knew Arizona's Republican majority, as expert as it is at hyperbole and invective, was so committed to fostering healthy race relations in the Grand Canyon State? Last month, after a court fight against the ban, the governing board of the Tucson Unified School District pulled the plug on its Mexican American studies program, which teachers say was designed to help middle school and high school students navigate in a complex, multiethnic world.

An undercurrent of anger against the United States appears to be building here because of what many see as the Obama administration's overly cautious response to the demands of protesters for the resignation of longtime U.S. ally President Hosni Mubarak. Anti-American sentiment in Egypt has percolated just below the surface in Egypt for years, exacerbated by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Washington's steadfast support for Israel. While the current level of public antipathy remains relatively low, anti-U.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Saturday demanded that Pakistani authorities release an American diplomat who faces murder charges in the recent deaths of two men in the eastern city of Lahore, arguing that he is protected by diplomatic immunity and was acting in self-defense against the armed men. The man, who Pakistani authorities said was a technical advisor working in the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, is at the center of an escalating row between...

Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang denied Monday that he sought to insult the United States with the choice of a song he played at a White House state dinner last week, despite the claims of some mainland Chinese and conservatives in the U.S. Lang Lang, the 28-year-old virtuoso who performed at a dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, said he played "My Motherland" not because of its anti-American associations but entirely "for the beauty...