Very timely. An article about this very topic appeared in the Toronto Sun today....
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Column...03/806494.html
"Some see the tsunami disaster as a chance for the U.S. to mend fences with the Islamic world with its aid -- showing the people of Indonesia (the world's largest Muslim country) that America is not the devil incarnate.
Maybe this will happen, but not likely.
Ordinary people in the under-developed world rarely view Americans as anything except what's desirable.
The supposed unpopularity of the U.S. is often propaganda and rhetoric, and not shared by the people of the world who, even after 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan and the war against terror, seek to come to America to live in freedom and prosperity.
Those anxious to get in have no doubts about what America is -- the most desirable country on Earth.
...A world without the U.S. would be a sorrier world indeed, especially when leadership in humanitarian causes is needed. "