America's off on an ego trip again, heeds no warnings

Tom Plate, Founder, Asia Pacific Media Network, New York City

"Are the Americans here listening to anybody?" a journalist asked Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as he was leaving a wide-ranging session attended by reporters -- mostly from Western publications. "I'm not going to touch that one," returned the feisty, articulate critic of the West and proponent of Asian values. In fact, virtually no one at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) -- this year held in Manhattan instead of Davos -- was eager to touch that hot button.

Certainly not in the unforgettable shadow of Ground Zero, or while U.S. soldiers are helping mop up the Taliban in Afghanistan, or while top officials, from President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on down, are showing such deft public skills in articulating the American perspective. But, in reality, many people at this famous conference of business tycoons, Nobel Prize winners, public intellectuals, academics and "media leaders" harbored the concern that America was once again about to go on a colossal ego trip -- or, indeed, was already on one.

It was at a WEF panel on foreign policy last Friday (Feb. 1) that this quiet fear first surfaced. The ordinarily cautious Secretary of State Colin Powell, without hesitation or blush, asserted the United States would do what it believes to be the right thing in the world whether or not it had support from allies. That sent a chill over the hall. So now, delegates from all over the world started to grumble, the long-standing American exceptionalism (our motives are always pure), which had grown into an American unilateralism (when Bush came in), was now to be crowned with a premature American triumphalism.

Unease certainly grated Asian representatives, for whom the annual Davos conference offers a useful opportunity to mix it up with Westerners and match ideas. Perhaps one sad story will suffice to illustrate the worry. A well-respected U.S. newsmagazine editor asked Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in a private session for selected journalists, why her country hasn't been able to keep up with the economic growth rates of wealthier neighbors like Hong Kong and Singapore.

For an awkward moment, this eloquent Asian leader was momentarily speechless. How does she tell this distinguished U.S. "media leader" that he had his facts dead wrong -- that Hong Kong and Singapore have of late been showing negative or at best flat growth rates, while the Philippines has been weighing in at a solid 3-4 percent growth level? After the brief hesitation, Arroyo said, "That could only be the facts about my country to the casual observer."

That's the problem with America -- it's too casual in its observance of the rest of the world. In his briefing to the WEF's "media leaders," Mahathir, often painted by the Western press as an irresponsible verbal flame-thrower, was polite and respectful about the United States, but he was also plainly concerned about the future of Central and Southeast Asia.

Said Mahathir: "If today Islam is perceived to be a religion of backward, violent and irrational people, it is not because of Islam itself as a faith and way of life. It is because (some) Muslims have deviated from the fundamentals of Islam, have abused the teachings in order to justify their personal greed and ambition. There is nothing wrong with Islam but everything wrong with those who interpret Islam for their own ends."

But the American war against extreme terrorist groups in Asia could come to be perceived in the Islamic world as a crusade against all Muslims. Like Arroyo, he worries that America will win the battle for Afghanistan but lose the more crucial war for the hearts and minds of the Islamic world. To guard against such a diplomatic calamity, Mahathir would ask a wise American president to step back and catch his breath: "The United States should be prepared to listen to the views of others and not just to their own views. Its tendency is to feel that any other view is wrong."

Mahathir, a former physician, wishes the U.S. military efforts well, of course, but, again like Arroyo, worries that an excessive emphasis on a military solution will create political nightmares for the West. He makes the argument that terrorism will never be adequately contained -- no matter how successful the current campaign in Afghanistan -- unless its root causes are identified and addressed: "As a doctor, I have to know the causes of the disease before I can prescribe the proper medicine."

Indeed, the Asian worry is that the Bush administration, flying high on the brilliant military success in Afghanistan, will then fly its anti-terrorism show into new theaters. Warns Mahathir: "If this is followed by new attacks in other countries, it will alienate Muslims everywhere .... Americans would then be in danger all over the world."

Even at the height of its power, it seems, America is in danger -- but is it listening to the warnings from the people who truly know what they are talking about?