Has america's handling of the whole Iraq and afghanistan situation damaged their reputation forever?
956300
since I ignore the press and the liberal rhetoric, I don't share your opinion.
264718
When the liberation of Afghanistan was complete, the US Government announced that all satellite imagery from the area had been purchased by the USA for an indefinite period of time. It is not possible for anyone outside of the US Government to have access to satellite photography in Afghanistan.\n\nAlso, physically it is very difficult for independent news sources to actually get anywhere outside of Kabul. The country is extremely mountainous and the road infrastructure is in ruins. The country has literally millions of landmines that were placed with little rhyme or reason. Even if the people who placed them wanted to pay to remove them, there are no maps of where they are because they were simply dropped from helicopters or planted by roving patrols.\n\nIraq, no matter what anyone wants to say, is a relatively modern country with an adequate transportation net except in the Kurdish areas (again, mountainous plus it was heavily persecuted under the Hussein regime). Iraq has extensive open borders with several countries that would not mind the Coalition being embarrassed by reporters who can sneak in just as easily as terrorists can (maybe they carpool together?).\n\nAlso, there just isn't as much interest in the viewing public for information coming from Afghanistan. The US presence is about 1/5 the size in Iraq, and the forces there are largely Special Forces who are not supposed to be photographed anyways. The bulk of the Coalition forces are actually not American, so that would shoot down the whole "Anti-American Conspiracy Theory" that we hear so much about (a French soldier was just killed there the other day, in case anyone cares).
135239
God knows.  Sometimes I think it started with this Neocon PNAC invasion of Iraq, but it seems to me that ever since the end of WW II, the US has tried to assert its dominance over much of the world.  We seem to have lost our way since Bush stole the first election.  Byzantium, China, Persia, the Ottomans, Rome, Great Brittain, France...and the good ole USA.\nthey all decline and fall.
687210
Bush can.t deal with Iraq the way it is His crying wolf about Iran is only a ploy to draw attention away from Iraq Just as Iraq was used to draw attention away from the unfinished job in Afghanistan
813797
No, those that are destroying the USA are the corporate big boys who are selling out this country and its jobs to the lowest bidder round the world.  Send the jobs to China and now Bush's Vietnam, and let us patriots wonder what happened in ten years when we are a third world country and trillions of dollars in debt.  This cynical disregard for this country and its citizens is unparalleled in history, and it is some of the most unpatriotic behavior of all time.
496373
Overtly, the US invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban and find Osama Bin Laden.  Neither of these has yet been completely accomplished.\n\nThe Taliban continues and last month had even made a bit of a comeback.  The conditions, such as the treatment of women, are even worse now than they were at the time of the Taliban.\n\nThe reason is because the Bush administration is full of idoits that don't know how to fight wars.  In Afghanistan, like Iraq, there were far too few troops sent to do the job.\n\nUnlike Iraq, the troops in Afghanistan never intended to occupy the country.  The administration naively believed that the Afghani people would greet the troops as liberators and band together to establish a western-style democracy.  This hasn't happened.\n\nToday, the new Afghani government controls only Kabul.  The rest of the country is in the hands of warlords who are at least as bad as, or worse than, the Taliban.  The Taliban contines to hold some territory as well.\n\nLaws are almost non-existant in Afganistan, and the US has done next to nothing to help.  Kabul still hasn't been rebuilt since the Soviet invasion, and the US has allocated no money to do so.  The "aid" that the US does provide isn't even sufficient to train and maintian the security forces that act as the new government's personal bodyguards.\n\nIf the US left today, it would hardly make any difference.  The number of troops and resources dedicated to Afghanistan is so small that it might not even be noticed of they were withdrawn.\n\nThe handling of this war should be a source of great shame to the Untied States.  The Afghani people were the poorest in the world before the invasion, and now they are even worse off.\n\nAmerica, the richest country on the planet, could easily rebuild the country and could do much to help restore order, but won't.  No reason has been given for this since the American press and people have already forgotton about Afghanistan.
569088
No and quite frankly why should anyone help the Americans to solve this problem. The civilised world was screaming at them not to invade Iraq, but no America knows best. So really America should clean up this mess and finally realise that war is not just cruise missiles flying over the skies of Baghdad in a pyrotechnic display of shock and awe. \n\nAmerica was founded by a group of idealists that wanted to remove the shackles of imposed government. May be it is time that America returns back to it's founding fathers and reexamines it's gun ho attitude to the world. \n\nMay be she can realise that yes Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, but for a civilised world, there has to be alternative to war and bloodshed. Is that not why the UN was set up after the second world war to try and avoid the carnage being repeated?
519912
Basing my opinion on what Bush did outside the US and comparing him to his predecessors i can tell you ANYONE would have done better than him. Since he's been there the US managed to focus the hatred of most countries against them, even that of those that were traditionally linked to the US. \nIn Europe i have seen americans claiming they were australians or canadians, to avoid some nasty comments on them, especially in France, Italy and Germany. \nHis arrogance and tendency to want to rule on all the others will leave scars for many many years outside the US and will deeply affect international relations, even though the effects are still not there. In actual fact, his presence at the government is currently doing in such a way that Europe prefers Russia and China as partners instead of the US, as it traditionally happened for centuries. \nAnd all this comes from a ProAmerican sustainer. It's simply that, objectively speaking....Bush doesn't have any justification for the things he has been doing over these years (Leaving aside the 11/9 facts, which would have deserved a better management, since CIA told the government what was about to happen). In short, he didn't prove any good to be honest. In actual fact, the last real President the US had was Reagan. All the others seen from here look more like grown up spoilt kids playing with a Real Time Strategy Game in a desperate run to gain control of the last natural resources, without even caring anymore about the excuses they find to justify their actions in front of the rest of the world.
174036
The U.S.A. is not the World Police.\nThe Iraq War by itself has stretched the Army's capacity to\nthe breaking point.I don't think the U.S. should even be\nthere to the extent that it is. Like it or not,most countries in the world have different cultures/values and\nattemting to convert them to Western standards wouldn't be looked upon kindly.
98418
Well, I think that the US people are mostly to blame. We always get fixated onto our own 'domestic' issues, and hardly ever look outside the box. Our media giants never feed us the true news, and we have to spend hours searching on the internet to find the true story, but I still think we are too naive. There ARE much more important things than Iraq, like the genocides in Africa, but we never really care. Sometimes, it just gets me so mad. Then again, i'm only 13... PS. Thanks for helping me on my WWII question. I think yours was the best answer, but I accidentally clicked on Start a Vote. It's my first time using Yahoo!Answers,
960788
Yes, but it's more a occupation than a war, I believe George W Bush already declared victory in the war part of this whole messy plan. Most Americans care about our soldiers over there but with all the other worries about a "rigged" election coming, immigration which is a vital issue, and just the legitimacy of our government is a worry many have and this tends to take attention away from Iraq, if you remember the real war was suppose to be in Afghanistan, not Iraq. And now with the nuclear talk coming up again it's no wonder the attention and support our troops are getting has diminished. This is not the fault of Americans, it's the fault of this administration in their inability to do anything right and honest. Shame on Bush and all the people who back him, you can support our troops without supporting our president and the idiots running this occupation.
797039
If you want to ask such a straigth forward and sensitive question, you better be ready to hang unto some truth....not just "american media news reports" on "What's Happening"" outside the U.S.  reflects reality!\n\nAll together... I give NO marks to the U.S Diplomacy...\n\nIt's a mess everywhere.............Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela........and more!\n\nWhere & What ...  is "American Diplomacy"...........?
899212
It doesn't matter to me at all.\n\nWhy - Because the world hates America, always have and always will.  This hatred didn't start with Iraq or Bush (either Bush), it has always existed.
830612
Experience is based on trial, failure and success. The invasion of Germany during the Second World War was an overwhelming success despite the losses on the allied forces. It was an invasion of purpose and it’s after effects changed the world for the better.\n\nThe invasion of Iraq on the other hand was ill timed, ill prepared, ill advised and mired in controversy from the onset. \n\nThis invasion unlike the first one did not involve the strategic neighbors from the beginning. \n\nThere was no focus on the invasion or planning for the aftermath as no suitable regime replacement that would be acceptable by the now divided populace was identified - There is a void that can not be filled.\n \nIraq will inevitably have to be split, in order to be governable. That is the only option to correct America's blunder- (Shite and Sunni Iraq).\n\nJust like what Vietnam did for the American leadership of the time, Iraq will be President Bush's dark legacy. Let us just hope Iraq will not be to America as Afghanistan was to the former USSR. (USSR end was accelerated by the Afghanistan invasion and defeat).
544620
American foreign policy is largely run by the military.  There is a fundamental disconect.  Bear with me a moment.  The act of war is not an end in itself. It is merely a small part of a larger process - governing.  However, America is very bad at the final phase of conquering - the civil administration.  It's a little like getting a hockey team that can get the puck into the goal area but simply cannot get the actual goal.  However close they get, they will always fail as they can not achieve getting the puck into the net.  So it is with American  wars.  \n\nThe failure to place an effective government (Iraq, Somalia, Vietnam) means the war never actually concludes - and eventually the military will fades as it must - and any gain is lost.  Had an effective government (any government) been established in Iraq the pressure from the military would have been eased.  Instead this basic disconnect continues and the American effort will inevitably end badly.\n\nExamples of how it could be done can be seen in the Roman Empire, the French Colonisation of french African states, the British Empire and the Chinese expansions of the last  3000 years.  All have had enormous success, and have included in their model civil governance. Additionally there was a strong will of the colonizing nationals to participate in the new regime - as civil administrators, settlers, farmers and shop keepers.  How many Americans do you see queueing up to set up shops in Baghdad? It simply isn't a part of the US psyche. They'd rather be in California.\n\nWhile the military dominate foreign policy (and ironically the CIA), there will simply never be a solution. It doesn't matter how big or technological the military are - it never has.\n\nJFS
191714
If America had a Karma score, it was at an all-time high after 9-11.  The entire world had pity for our tragedy.  Now Bush has convinced many of those same people we deserved it.  I have traveled to Germany and Holland since the Iraq war started.  People there hate what Bush is doing.  I and three friends were attacked by about 10 guys one night in Germany.  Their graffiti is about OUR PRESIDENT!  And it's everywhere.  \n\nAnd more than that, Bush has amputated both legs of our economy in a time when the ONLY REAL WAR IS ECONOMIC!  China, and the future European Union will surpass us as superpowers in that war now.  Mark my words!  We have never been in more trouble.
898483
That is the NEOCON agenda.  With the collapse of the Soviet Union, some bright men with nothing to do got tired of playing Risk, and graduated to Global Politics.  They concluded that in this power vacuum, it would be a really good idea for the US to assert itself while it had the chance, aiming at a kind of PAX or Power Americana, another name for world domination.  This all happened while we were all asleep, without our being consulted, and we now find ourselves trying to figure out how we got into this mess, the latest being Afghanistan and Iraq.  These guys are for real, and they are plundering along the way.  No one has ever succeeded at this throughout history, but they are giving it another shot,  as they figure by the time anyone catches on, they will be set and on their private island some where.  It is always the general population that has to suffer these guys, paying in blood, destruction, and chaos.  No one ever believes this can be until it is way too late.  The "big lie" has been used over and over for a very long time to cover this behavior up, and no matter how many times it is used, they always seem to initially get away with it.  They say if you don't know history you are doomed to repeat it, and here we are again.  That must be why we don't teach real history in our schools, so this kind of thing can happen.