"Our family roamed deserts, mountains and beaches as we made ourselves at home all over the Middle East in the 1960s and ’70s," writes Delinda C. Hanley. "Throughout my life, American students, tourists and workers all fell in love with the region—its people, land, history and food.
"Americans were also loved. Many of our friends were missionaries, doctors, professors, artists, diplomats and businesspeople who were having the times of their lives as they worked alongside Arabs building close ties between our countries. In those days there was a Kennedy street in every country in the Middle East.
"Our lavish financial support for Israel, our military bases in the region, and our own attacks on Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen (pushed by foreign policy hawks, neocons and knee-jerk supporters of Israel) have destroyed our reputation. If we had continued to use American know-how, expertise and diplomacy to build up the Middle East instead of bombing it to smithereens or supporting Israel’s ongoing genocide, we would still be loved."
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