"360°" asks why so many Muslims around the world say they hate Americans. Can their minds be changed? "

You asked: "360°" asks why so many Muslims around the world say they hate Americans. Can their minds be changed? " When people forget and ignore their history they are condemned to repeat it...The answer for your question would be Respect and Tolerance. I live in a country that was invaded by the USA a century ago, the american authorities unilaterally intended to impose the use of the English language to a country who have been using Spanish for 400 years, unilaterally - again - changed our national anthem and up to the 1980s to display the national flag was proscribed and it was a reason enough to be persuted and killed. We also served as guinny pigs for the studies for the development of "The Pill" tricking women to consume them thinking it was vitamins, others were simply sterilized without their consent, ( Joseph Mengele comes to mind, but his american version was Dr. Cornelius Rhoads who in written opinions stated the Puerto Rican population should be eradicated). The Infamous "Orange Agent Chemical" was test tried over our population and our rain forest. To live near military bases like Roosevelt Roads granted you the dubious right to have your daughters, mothers and sisters harrased or raped by marines, sometimes in their days off they could just get drunk and have hit and runs killing entire families and hiding behind the military bases where they were immune to local authorities. The latest assault attempt: how the Federal Prosecutor Office is intending to over rule OUR CONSTITUTION forcing the death penalty. And the list goes on and on, race included. You will see this pattern again and again in all of the countries that have lived this experiences with the USA and other invading countries as Albert Memmi presents in his book Portrait of the Colonizer. If we transport this experience to the Middle East, we see a super power like the USA - through its Executive Branch - with a xenophobic discourse against muslims, their millenium way of life and culture, it is no longer only against Al Qaeda or specific terrorist groups. It is an overly offensive to every muslim in the world. For a country as young as the USA, who still struggles with its own cultural definition, many countries find extreamly arrogant their intention to impose "their way of life" that unfortunately translates to the interest and needs of USA based corporations and multunationals. We just have to see the dramatic political changes in LatinAmerica to understand it. After the attacks in Madrid (11/3) the spaniards and its new government ( the misleading of information and Aznar's support to the war in Iraq was key to the overturn) took a novell approach, first they recognized the influence of the muslim and islamic culture to its own. Their history has been linked through centuries. Then in order to control the illegal immigration mostly from the north of Africa, they created incentives for corporations to establish fair business practices in those countries in order to promote their local econmomy and development that they hope will translate into less illegal migration. The entire world is very eceptic of the USA. We see it as a country of contadictions, a world police with a thin glass roof. Were people are educated through the entertainment industry and video games. Where it is more newsworthy if someone kidnaps Paris Hilton dog, Tinkerbell, beat it to death and it will make frontlines. Cut to the Mexico - USA border and try to make a story of an illeagal that got killed while trying to enter the USA and no one will care. Probably you will have cheerleaders cheering those who commited the crime. You know there is something wrong with a society when Humane Rights go over Human Rights.My mother always told me that arrogance is based on ignorance. I think history lessons are in order.
Posted by Christiane Amanpour Wednesday, September 13, 2006