"In testimony last week to the House Appropriations subcommittee in Washington, The New York Times reports that Margaret Tutwiler, in her first public appearance as the State Department official in charge of public diplomacy, acknowledged that America's standing abroad had deteriorated to such an extent that 'it will take us many years of hard, focused work' to restore it." But, like a true Bush toadie, Tutwiler tried to claim that the crisis is really just an accumulation over time through BOTH Democratic and Republican administrations and refuses to confront the truth: Bush and his NeoCons bear most of the blame for America's present big fat black eye. This refusal to confront reality does not bode well, as Tutwiler is charged with "winning the hearts and minds" of those we have alienated. She should start by apologizing for the Bush administration.

"For Indonesian youth, America used to be the role model when it came to culture and lifestyle and its politicians looked to Washington for guidance. But today that support has grown thin. According to a policy paper distributed to US embassies last October, only 15% of Indonesians view the US favourably, compared to 61% in early 2002. The US's stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict topped the list of US policies that alienated Indonesian Muslims, while the unilateral war in Iraq ranked a close second. Washington has mounted a massive global campaign in its attempt to convince the world that its war on terror is not a war on Islam. 'I laugh every time I watch their propaganda on TV,' says Indra, a banker in Jakarta. 'It is such a big joke!' he said, referring to a 40-second TV advert showing Muslims living happily in a religiously tolerant America."

"A majority of people around the world view Resident Bush unfavorably and think the United States was wrong to invade Iraq, according to a BBC poll published on Monday. The poll, which surveyed more than 11,000 people in 11 countries, showed 57 percent of those asked had 'a very unfavorable or fairly unfavorable attitude toward the American resident,' the British broadcaster said in a statement. Some 56 percent felt the United States was wrong to attack Iraq, including 81 percent of Russian respondents and 63 percent of those polled in France."

"Imagination and duct tape might just hold us together when panic attacks strike," states Roy MacGregor of Canada's Globe and Mail. MacGregor's dark humor provides a glimpse of how our current crisis sparked by the madness of King George and CNN appears to those outside our borders.

Writes John Kaminski: "The greatest military attack on American soil has not even been investigated. Three thousand people killed in downtown New York City and it's just swept under the rug as the insane media manipulators rush on to new fabricated crises to cover up the single greatest crime in American history. Talk about a big lie. Talk about lack of integrity. And the American people, anesthetized as they are with ill-gotten gains, over-the-counter drugs, bad schools and worse TV, don't even raise a collective eyebrow. Telling the truth is just not important to them anymore, if it ever was. In fact, if there's one thing obvious in the world today, it's that America does not tell the truth. It says one thing but always means something else. It promises to spread democracy but all it distributes is oil-money-crazed dictatorship and prison or death without trial for anyone who dares to stand in its way."

CNN.com reports: "Discontent with the United States has grown around the world in the past two years but there is still widespread goodwill toward the country and its citizens, according to a survey released Wednesday....The survey found that since 2000, favorable ratings for the United States have fallen in 20 of the 27 countries for which the previous data was available. But in 17 of those 20 countries, a majority of people still viewed the United States favorably....People around the world said they embrace American culture but decried U.S. influence on their societies. American unilateralism was criticized...Majorities of those surveyed in France, Germany and Russia said they thought a desire on the United States' part to control Iraqi oil, not the belief that Iraq is a threat, would be the reason behind any U.S. military action against Baghdad. Forty-four percent of British respondents agreed."

Rex Williams writes from Australia, "How can it be that with some of the mainstream press now awakening from a long and extended slumber and reporting some of the frightening facts that are happening daily in the US, the people are still completely in awe of the current incumbent and his team of fascists. It seems to me in Australia, a long way away, but well read in news and politics, thanks to the 'alternative press,' there should be a case for arresting many of the current heirarchy for things they have said and have done over the years. Names such as Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Ashcroft, Perle, Reich, Abrams, Kissinger, Poindexter and many others whose claim to fame has been engaging in illegal, machiavellian acts and acts against the long-term interests of the US... Until the great majority of US citizens see the administration's actions as against the overall interests of the country, bad government will continue to survive and flourish."

Our northern neighbor W. R. McDougall writes: "Dear America: And so it has come to this. Your once-great nation has fallen into madness, an affliction of mass denial that brings shivers up the spines of millions outside your borders. Yours is a sick nation. But most of you carry on as though nothing at all is the matter. Dark, evil operations run rampant in the secret corners of your government institutions. A dubiously constituted government pursues war at will anywhere on earth, discussing nuclear options that become points for cheerful chatter over lunch. Your military and intelligence agencies employ terrorist tactics around the globe even as they insist that such tactics are necessary in the fight against terrorism. You have become a nation of monsters, America. Hypocrites. Murderers. Fools. Your constitution is a shambles thanks to 'national security' measures..."

Adrian Hamilton illustrates the nature of the world's most dangerous and lawless rogue state. Guess who it is.