When a student leaves the United States and studies abroad, a seemingly endless bombardment of questions run through one's mind, and several years ago such uncertainties were limited to homesickness and culture shock. However, recent world events have brought to the forefront another, more sinister concern facing all students.
Now more than ever, Americans are becoming the targets of terrorism overseas. Popular destinations for studying abroad such as London, Rome and Madrid were once considered safe areas for Americans, but no more.
Many students studying abroad received a U.S. State Department warning for all Americans abroad over the summer. The release stated various terrorist organizations are preparing to launch waves of attacks aimed at Americans, and the State Department cautioned Americans may be assassinated or kidnapped, and their vehicles may be hijacked or bombed.
Who or what is to blame for this phenomenon? What caused this insurgence in dangerous anti-Americanism?
Certainly those strapping bombs to their chests and wielding AK-47s are the primary antagonists in this paradox. Their irrational and fanatic desire to put an end to capitalism cannot be excused as the direct cause of countless deaths.
Regardless of how America treats the rest of the world, there will always be those dedicated to the extermination of western ideals. Terrorism has existed in various forms ever since the first organized government and terrorism will exist as long as there is a state. Simply placing the blame on the terrorists themselves does not adequately explain why it is more dangerous to be an American in Europe today than any other time since the fall of the Third Reich.
Those preaching rabid anti-American sentiment need an equally divisive individual in the White House to spread their ideology across the world, and they certainly have more than enough ammunition with our current president. Through a series of international blunders — not only the war in Iraq — President Bush has managed to convert countless previously moderate individuals into seething bodies of revulsion fueled by their distaste for the president's politics.
The most recent example comes not from the Middle East or Europe, but from South America. President Bush recently headed south for the Summit of the Americas to preach the wonders of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas — similar to NAFTA, but on a much larger scale. However, President Bush apparently has even less support in Argentina than he does in the United States, as his trip has been plagued by protests the likes of which he has not seen since, well, his last trip outside the country.
Demonstrators have followed the president, chanting "Fascist Bush!" with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and soccer star Diego Maradona leading the charge.
Despite its current political climate, South America was not nearly this radical in the 1990s. When then-President Bill Clinton visited Brazil in 1997, he received a relatively warm welcome instead of being greeted by countless protestors, and soccer god Pele opted against denouncing President Clinton and instead chose to kick the soccer ball around with him.
However, President Bush is an equal opportunity instigator, implementing policies that transcend oceans with their absurdity. Even though the GOP-heavy Senate passed an anti-torture bill in a landslide 90-9 vote, Vice President Dick Cheney is lobbying for an exemption for the CIA. It is puzzling to see President Bush telling the world U.S. interrogators do not torture detainees on one hand and then reading he is against an anti-torture bill on the other. And when we add the CIA has opened former Soviet-era gulags for interrogation, it is not difficult to understand why foreigners are becoming increasingly disenfranchised with the president.
But, of course, it does not stop there. The questionable treatment of "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay — and the administration's refusal to label them as POWs, entitling them to proper treatment via the Geneva Accords — the scandal at Abu Ghraib, a key Bush ally calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez and President Bush's "you're either with us or against us" mentality all serve to incense foreigners and thus reduce the safety of students studying abroad.
Of course President Bush is not to blame for all acts of terrorism. Attacks on U.S. interests have been a fact of life well before Bush ascended to the presidency, and had Al Gore proved victorious five years ago Sept. 11 in all likelihood would still have happened. However, dramatic changes in U.S. foreign policy brought about by the Bush Administration have managed to infuriate most of the known world, making student destinations a far more dangerous place for the class of 2006 than the class of 2000.
Robert S. Hunger ([email protected]) is the editorial board content editor and is a senior majoring in political science and journalism.
