7 reasons to hate the U.S.?

UPI just published 7 reasons "why they hate us," to explore the reasons for Middle East hatred of the U.S. They provide considerable space to detailing the" seven reasons," which they claim are:

1. America as an imperial power...
2. Arrogance...
3. Corrupting culture ...
   
4. Self-indulgence ...
   
5. Lack of evenhandedness ...
   
6. America as a "rogue" state ...
   
7. A blind envy ...
   

Missing from the list is "the propaganda of their totalitarian regimes." Fortunately, UPI points out that:

From time immemorial, leaders of all political and philosophical persuasions have attempted to blame others for their own shortcomings and endemic problems. The bigger the problem they faced, the larger and more significant the "responsible" party had to be.

So what is their solution? Supporting freedom and democracy in the Middle East? Well, no.

June of 2003 an Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and the Muslim World under the chairmanship of Edward P. Djerejian was created, the group mandate was strictly limited to public diplomacy. That is, the group was unable to recommend any core policy changes. ...

While the group made some useful recommendations -- including dramatic increases in funding, additional professional staff versed in Arab and Muslims cultures, better use of the information technology, helping Arab and Muslims to gain access to American education, translation of the best American books and increased professional and cultural exchanges -- these and many other recommendations are hardly adequate to meet the real challenge America is facing. ...

Indeed, this is an ideological cultural war - a war that cannot be won by muscle. In fact, the use of mostly brute military power has only heightened the levels of resistance and violence, while further mobilizing the masses against everything America stands for.

Successfully battling such hate will prove to be much harder than waging war in Iraq, and the war on terrorism will never be won unless the United States changes the social and political environment where hate and blind religious fanaticism fester. Changing minds and winning the peace in a sea of deep seated hatred cannot be done on the cheap.

So UPI's solution is more money. More money is needed to educate people in the Middle East, but the real solution is deeper. It requires continued U.S. support of the people of the Middle East in their quest for the same freedoms being realized in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. Until these people have the same freedoms to choose their governments, speak freely, assemble freely, establish just legal systems, their anger will continue to brew.