Sir democracy or freedoms are not the issue here; its the support of Illiberal Dictatorships and Monarchies on one hand & the ardent advocacy of Democracy, Liberalism and Freedom on the other that irks us to no end.
As I said, it is imperfectly implemented for certain. We would have loved it had the "Arab Spring" in Egypt actually achieved what a real democracy is supposed to be, with the ouster of Mubarak, but democracy is not simply about winning one election. When the Muslim Brotherhood there made it clear that they were not going to adhere to the important ideas like pluralism and rights for individuals and minorities, it demonstrated
why America often supports non-democratic leaders as the lesser of two evils. I think in the abstract, America would like to see Saudi Arabia transition to a constitutional monarchy that is a true democracy, but the reality is that what would more likely happen is what happened in Egypt. I know people here would like the world to be black and white, but it is not. Adults who know how the world really is, need to understand that we can't have everything we want, when we want it and stop blaming America because her foreign policy reflects that. It's like the poster here who keeps insisting that Stalin's tens of millions of victims of his murderous rule, are of course...America’s fault because the United States and the UK, in a the bloodiest war in human history, made a strategic alliance with the enemy of our enemy in order to defeat the Nazi's. Now blaming America for the Soviet communists actions is the argument a child would make. It's infantile. We did not cause those deaths, Stalin and the communists did. We simply HAD to find the quickest way to defeat that Nazi's and an alliance with Stalin was it. Once that was done, the Cold War began, (actually, resumed.), and we worked to defeat the communists. It's the world adults live in. Children frequently don't understand it. I.e., we WILL back the Saudi's when Iran is the other regional power that is working against America's interest in the region. That doesn't mean that we are in love with how the Saudi's govern themselves. It just means that we have to deal with what we have, not what we may want, necessarily.
It is the lack of empathy for the lives of those who aren't Americans that irks us - Either all life is sacred or none of it is; we just don't appreciate countless hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, Afghans & Pakistanis for a US Foreign Policy that is in most cases at least partly responsible for creating the mess that needed to be weeded out and supporting Military Dictators of one's choice when it served some Strategic Purpose.
America generally actually takes great care to NOT just randomly kill the innocent, despite so many posters here who claim otherwise but again, you are holding my country to a standard which you seem unwilling to hold your own to. My first assignment in the 1980's was to one of those countries America supports that you talk about; Saudi Arabia. I was an advisor there. You know which country I shared that mission with who are the Saudi's great allies?
Pakistan! I worked side by side with the officer's and men of PAF and now, who is Pakistan trying to normalize relations with?
Iran! So perhaps you should look at your own countries support for dictatorships, and anti-democratic regimes before criticising mine. ALL countries must live in the real world where we don't always get what we want, the way we want it.
What happened on 9'11 was a terrible...terrible crime against humanity that cannot be condone in anyway possible but our countries have had a 9'11 almost on a quarterly basis for years at a stretch after that !
Yes, but that is NOT of America's making! What is happening in the Islamic world with the rise of fundamentalism and extremism, is something that is internal, despite the passionate desire to blame America or the West for it.
Furthermore it is the interference in the domestic affairs of our countries that is most unwelcome - Are there issues ? Yes....resounding yes but they are ours to solve not anyone elses
And we will stop interfering when countries stop letting their territory be used as bases for those that murder us or our friends. When an Iran threatens to "wipe Israel off the face of the map.", you better believe we are going to "intervene" in that. When Saddam invades Kuwait and pillages and rapes that country, America is going to "intervene" When we catch up to Osama bin Laden and we KNOW the ISI has links to Al-Qaeda and cannot be trusted, we are going to send our forces in without warning, to kill the man.
Why does the Congress feels itself the need to hear about the Human Right's abuses in Pakistan ?
You don't see the Pakistani Parliament entertaining advocacy groups talking about the plight of the Native Americans or the Illegal Immigrants crossing over from Mexico ?
It isn't just the US congress. It is agencies of the UN, human rights groups, international and within Pakistan, and other countries who think it important when such abuses are so large in scale. It is the same reason why US military forces are looking for the kidnapped girls in Nigeria. It IS about human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, despite how imperfectly America and the rest of the democratic world may support those values.
So it was never about Freedom, Democracy or any of those other pious sentiments....it was always about Respect, Empathy and Principles !
It is about all of those things, but the democratic world, the UN, human rights groups, cannot simply ignore what happens outside of their own countries.
The American People are absolutely wonderful....they really are & I wish them the very best in life but the US State Department really needs to account for the fact that it is increasingly acting like the Police Man of the World and other Nations would not appreciate it - Some like China & Russia will resists back....others like Pakistan will be arm-twisted into submission with talk of IMF, aid and export curbs - But no one likes it !
Maybe there needs to be some change over there too !
That goes to my point #1. Most of the American people, frankly, think much of the world is run by religious fanatics and savage regimes that they personally, would prefer we had nothing to do with and would just let destroy themselves...but more realistic Americans, those of us who HAVE worked and travelled in the world, know that is simply no longer possible and shouldn’t be. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, America became the most powerful state in almost every area, economic, militarily, etc. That job of "world's policeman" was handed to us whether we like it or not, by that fact. As I said, most Americans don't like it, but we cannot change the reality of it.
