America’s Responsibility

“It isn’t fear of terrorists that discourages Americans from taking trips outside our borders. We are a brave people. It’s just that we can’t stand being hated so. This is very new anyway: being the most hated nation on earth. What do you suppose is the explanation?”

Kurt Vonnegut

Letter to the Editor

The New York Times

May 1, 1986

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center’s devastation, there have been many attempts to answer Mr Vonnegut’s question he asked 15 years ago. None, however, provide a satisfactory answer other than that it is “blowback.” “Blowback,” a term coined by the CIA, as Chalmers Johnson explains in his very readable book of the same name, refers to the unintended consequences of American foreign policies.

To say that the morning of September 12, 2001, felt as if the world has changed--a feeling that has not dissipated, nor it likely will--from the day before is now trite. So, what now lies ahead for America? One hopes the answer could be summed-up in one word: awareness. America needs to become aware of its role in this world. Mr Vonnegut’s lamentation and the CIA’s “blowback” are clear indications that America had not understood its responsibility to the world.

That America is the most powerful nation, both economically and militarily, on this planet is an undeniable fact. No nation’s culture pervades the four corners of the world like America’s. No nation, throughout recorded history, has risen to such prominence in so short a time. For this America’s meteoric rise, the credit certainly goes to the framers of the American constitution, its efficient political and business systems, and its hard-working labor with entrepreneur spirit.

Whether America likes it or not, it is no more an island, nestled in its own little world oblivious to the world outside. But to most Americans, used to the Ed Sullivan Show and the NFL, it certainly felt that way until the terror from a remote part of the world struck New York about a month ago. And a blowback it was. Is America, then, receiving blowbacks hitting home, as opposed to receiving it in some far away and unfamiliar places like Beirut, Kenya and Yemen?

With wealth, prominence, and power comes responsibility. It is in this responsibility area that America seems to have fallen short. What is, then, America’s responsibility to the world?

Being the most powerful nation and as a lone superpower, America cannot ignore the world. That America, because of its might, is the undisputed leader of the world cannot be argued. But does it command the respect from the world accorded a leader? Many would hesitate answering that question in the affirmative. America must learn from its own TV commercial for the Marines: respect is earned, not granted.

America’s responsibility as the respected leader of the world begins as being an impartial arbiter in any dispute between two nations or groups. While America cannot, and should not, play Judge Judy to the world, whatever international dispute it gets involved in, however willy-nilly, it must be perceived as a fair judge in that dispute. America must not take sides, or at least project that perception. It must not openly discriminate against nations or groups of people. Up until now, America had left no doubt that America was anything but fair in critical and complex disputes it has been drawn into, that it does not discriminate, that it does not play favorites; hence, the rejection of America’s leadership by most of the world, and violently so by those who view America’s judgment as unjust.

Moreover, if America chooses to go after aggressive, oppressive and tyrannical dictators, such as Saddam, it must make sure that innocent people don’t pay for the sins of their unsavory dictators, as they have in Iraq, or the result would be blowback.



It is perhaps overly simplistic to say this, but America, by its actions, must show the world that it is the unwavering fair leader of the world, that when it gets involved it is out there to help not hurt. This will not only earn America respect from rest of the world but, more importantly, it will stop blowbacks hitting home or anywhere else. To use an analogy, America must play the role of a wise and mature parent to its squabbling children. America, in short, must be perceived as fair in its actions by the world.

It is largely an immature and a dangerous world. In most parts of this world, especially in terms of foreign affairs, thinking is done by the heart not the brain. Most of the world has not matured and developed into what one would consider an adult behavior, where dialogues reign supreme over violent actions. Without America’s leadership that commands respect, not fear, this will be even more dangerous world, as we recently found out to our dismay. Fate and destiny have thrown on America the mantle of a leader and a judge of this world. It must play this role well. America, a highly civilized and developed society, does not have much of a choice in this matter. American leadership to the world must display the same tolerance and understanding that American leadership has shown within its own geographical boundaries.

As one watched the year 2001 version of the “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” being shot in Afghanistan, one hopes that America would not hit the rugged trail like a wandering cowboy after the shootout in the OK Corral is over. One hopes that America, in light of the WTC blowback, understands its responsibility to the world a little better.