The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism

Abstract

SINCE LAST YEAR'S attacks on New York and Washington, the con ventional wisdom about the motivation behind such deadly terrorism has gelled. The violence, we are often told, was a reaction to misguided U.S. policies. For years, certain American actions-such as the country's support for Israel and for unpopular, oppressive Arab regimes-had supposedly produced profound grievances throughout the Middle East. Those grievances came to a boil over time, and finally spilled over on September n. The result was more than 3,ooo American deaths. Although anti-Americanism is genuinely widespread among Arab governments and peoples, however, there is something seriously mis leading in this account. Arab and Muslim hatred of the United States is not just, or even mainly, a response to actual U.S. policies-policies that, if anything, have been remarkably pro-Arab and pro-Muslim over the years. Rather, such animus is largely the product of self interested manipulation by various groups within Arab society, groups that use anti-Americanism as a foil to distract public attention from other, far more serious problems within those societies. This distinction should have a profound impact on American policymakers. If Arab anti-Americanism turns out to be grounded in domestic maneuvering rather than American misdeeds, neither