Pro-Democracy, Anti-American

Often, the liberal Israeli press has the best coverage of the Middle East -- in part because they can talk about things which are taboo in the United States.

...the American adminstration and Bush in particular are perceived as a scourge. Reform movements in Egypt, Iran, Lebanon or Syria, whose members are ready to be killed for democracy in their country, go berserk the moment they are accused of receiving American funds or contributions.

[snip]

Democracies can be the death of each other. The Arab failure to accept Israel has little to do with the absence of democracy. It has more to do with the region's shared history and especially with the continued occupation.

It's hard to see how it could be any different, but most FoxNews watching Americans don't understand this. As long as folks in Marrakesh, Tunis, and Amman are seeing the ugly pictures from the West Bank and Baghdad on satellite TV every night, we're going to be politically radioactive.