TESTIMONY BY DAVID FRUM

American Enterprise Institute

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS &

OVERSIGHT

June 11, 2008

"America Has Never Been More Hated in the World"

Unproveable. On what basis could one even begin to decide whether such a statement is true or false? Global opinion surveys are inexact, to put it mildly. The Pew survey of international public opinion for example suggests that one-fifth of the population of Spain changed their view of the United States in the 12 months between the spring 2005 and spring 2006. But polling experts tell us that strongly held views do not shift that rapidly: a number that bobs up and down reflects at best a transitory impression, if not statistical noise.

Outside the developed world, in poor countries that are predominantly rural and illiterate, global public opinion surveys tell us even less.

And even if we choose to believe these assessments, what they mostly tell us is that the United States faced serious image problems well before 9/11. The Gallup Organization conducted a huge survey of Islamic public opinion between December 2001 and January 2002. It found that a majority of those surveyed regarded the United States unfavorably, with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran being the most hostile. Significant numbers regarded the 9/11 attacks as justifiable. Barely one-fifth of those surveyed accepted that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by Arab men—two-thirds denied it outright. In Saudi Arabia, the government refused to allow the question to be asked at all.

Americans like to tell themselves that the world rallied in sympathy to the murder of some 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. In fact, the attacks triggered a spasm of delight across the Middle East, The Memri organization has compiled an archive of grisly clippings, of which many of the worst come from the press of America's ally, Egypt: "[T]he most beautiful and precious moments of my life," wrote the opposition columnist, Muhammad Mustagab. "We have been prohibited from showing the happiness and joy that we feel, so as not to hurt the Americans' feelings. Although, in this case, rejoicing is a national and religious obligation," wrote Salim 'Azzouz in the official newspaper of the Egyptian Liberal Party.

This kind of malignancy obviously has deeper roots than any one administration. Today's anti-Americanism traces back to the 1980s, if not earlier.

Surveys conducted by Zogby International in early 2002—a year before the Iraq war—found that only 13 percent of Egyptians and 12 percent of Saudis expressed favorable opinions of the United States. Many accuse George Bush of squandering the goodwill of the world. But in the Islamic world, there was precious little goodwill to start with. In Pew's 1999 survey of global opinion, Pakistan ranked as the most anti-American country on earth.

Nor should one blame Iraq for the collapse of European support for American military action against terrorism. A Gallup poll conducted the week after 9/11 found that only 29 percent of the French, 21 percent of Italians, 18 percent of the British, 17 percent of Germans, and 12 percent of Spaniards supported military action against countries that harbored terrorists. We are all aware that the French newspaper Le Monde headlined its post-9/11 editorial "We Are All Americans." How many of us know the words below the headline: "[T]he reality is perhaps also that of an America whose own cynicism has caught up with [it]"?