U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the Bush War on Terror : elite opinion and the failure of U.S. strategy

Bush's foreign policy in the Middle East has generated increased anger in the region. The U. S. war against Iraq has sharply increased the level of anti-Americanism in regional terms. That is not to say that anti-Americanism was caused by the events following 9/11. Anti-Americanism is a result of attitudes and perceptions toward what many Arabs and Muslims call the "anti-Arab and Muslim" foreign policy, especially in regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict, that has existed over a longer period of time. Of course, the Bush Administration is aware of anti-Americanism in the Arab and Islamic world and has admitted that it has reached an unprecedented level. This study attempts to understand the debates over U. S. foreign policy in the Middle East from a Middle Eastern perspective. Mainly it is a case study of the Saudi perspective. It aims to find whether the conduct of U. S. policy has exacerbated the discontent and radicalism which underpins the actions of terrorist groups. Of the Saudi elites interviewed for this study, 90% believe that U. S. foreign policy has contributed to the growth of terrorism. Most of the participants (90.5%) agreed that U. S. support for Israel is the main reason for anti-Americanism.