AN EMPIRE WITHOUT POSSESSIONS:

Terror's Aftermath in Indonesia (Sidney Jones, director of the Indonesia project of the International Crisis Group, October 16, 2002, NY Times)

Extraordinary as this seems in the West, many Indonesians are convinced that the United States sponsored the Bali bombing in order to convince reluctant governments to join its war on terror and support an attack on Iraq. Hard-line Muslims like Abu Bakar Bashir--said to be the head of Jemaah Islamiyah--are not the only ones making this claim. The Bush administration's pressure on Indonesia to take action against Muslim terrorists, its policies in the Middle East and the presence of American troops in the Philippines' Muslim South have all fueled suspicions in conservative circles that Washington has an anti-Muslim agenda. Some Indonesians seem to believe that the only organization with the capacity to carry out such a devastating attack is the American government.

"American troops want to establish a presence in Indonesia," one commentator said on a television panel Monday night. "They'll establish a foothold by offering to help out with the investigation in Bali, and then we'll see the influx." If some in Washington think that the Bali blast will convert all skeptics to the need for more stringent antiterrorism measures, they'll need to reconsider.

Unfortunately, all you have to do is go read any "progressive" publication, European newspaper, or the editorial pages of the NY Times and you'll see people who should know better claiming much the same thing, that we are a neo-imperialist power bent on occupying the world and exploiting its resources. People seem to confuse the entirely reasonable and necessary to remain the world's dominant military power with an absurd imagined desire to actually control every nook and cranny.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 16, 2002 11:21 PM