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Europe's View of America, 9-11, and the Future
By Mike Bayham
September 5, 2002

A poll was taken recently by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations to ascertain the Continent's attitudes about the September 11th tragedy and America's military and diplomatic actions since the attacks. The results of the poll are rather surprising, which are more in step with the nations of the Arab League instead of the EU.

In a sample of 9,000 Europeans, 55% stated their belief that American foreign policy contributed to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. What is even more disturbing is that all of the countries polled were in agreement with this assessment. The range went from a high of 65% in France to only a bare majority in Italy (51%). Another surprise is that Great Britain and Holland were closer to the French on this question than they were with Italy.

Unfortunately the poll did not specify reasons why or how US diplomatic initiatives had anything to do with the attack. However, the poll did cite that President Bush had an image problem with Europe. A majority of Europe gave Bush a fair or worse rating in foreign policy while less than 40% polled support him in this theater.

The last question that was posed could be the most telling of the root of Europe's orneriness towards America and President Bush. Europeans were asked their views on America's superpower status. 65% of respondents said that Europe should join the US as a superpower with our "friends" in the Fifth Republic (France) endorsing this with an astounding 91%.

There is certainly much to be said and hypothesized concerning this poll. The first is that Europeans know very little about terrorists and even less about war, which is quite ironic since they should have a doctorate in this area from the past century alone.

I have yet to hear a convincing or legitimate argument made by anyone that America got what it deserved on September 11. Whether the United States was more susceptible to attacks by terrorists because of dereliction in our intelligence gathering is another matter, though I doubt many of the Europeans who consisted of the 55% that said we had it coming on that fateful day were in any way referring to this statement.

So far only the group that has tried to make a public case for the 55% was the same cabal that brought us the Daniel Pearl video. The Pakistani radicals, and the rest of their terrorist ilk, feel justified in killing innocent people as a legitimate way of lodging their protests with the global status quo. Either Europe was not paying attention to this "marginal story" or they had received the special edition "beheading-free" version of the video.

Secondly, one could easily infer from the results that the center of America's part of the "blame" for the attacks rests on President George W. Bush's shoulders. Nevermind that the planned assault was orchestrated well before Bush assumed office. The justifiably more hawkish Bush should not hope to be as well received as his predecessor was in Europe.

If anything, America's slouching international posture in the previous decade made us appear to be more of an attractive target. In international politics, Machiavelli's axiom that "it is better to be feared than loved" rings especially true.

Finally there are the results of whether Europe should join (or more appropriately stated "rival") the United States as a military superpower. It is ironic that while Europe has faulted the United States for behaving like a "cowboy" and has implied that it is because of this attitude that the country was hit, they themselves brazenly admit that they desire to be on the same level or higher.

Vanity aside, its easy to understand their feelings on this matter. At one time or another during the past millennium, the various western European countries each took turns as the world's most powerful country. Italy, France, England, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Portugal could all boast of being tops in their respective window of greatness.

However, while Americans look forward to see our nation's brightest days, the Europeans need to consult a history book to see their heyday. Don't think for a second that this fact does not give them a considerable amount of angst.

In a lot of ways the Europeans remind me of a bunch of middle aged former football stars who are gripped with envy over America's greatness. While the United States is out on the field making things happen, the nations of past greatness are relegated to sitting in the stands and making noise. Their jealousy concerning America's superpower status has caused their objectivity in analyzing world events to be seriously skewed.

It was obvious in Desert Storm that Europe's invitation and participation in the American led operation had more to do with courtesy than necessity. However, it is apparent that Europe is obsessed with reliving past glories sometime in the future, even if it means military and political collectivization.

While Austrians might be dazzled with visions of a revived Habsburg Empire or the French may indulge themselves with delusions of a return to its Napoleonic greatness, these would be superpowers need to do the same thing that many of Elvis' fans did to cope with his passing. Just like the King of rock and roll is dead, so is King George III.