The United States has faced international criticism, even condemnation, for actions ranging from the Vietnam War to aid for Israel and support of globalization. The nation's superpower status and decadent image only intensifies the disapproval. In recent years, however, anti-U.S. sentiment often has turned violent. Several deadly terrorist attacks by radical Islamic fundamentalists have targeted American citizens and interests. But the hatred reached a new intensity with the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 5,000 people and demolishing global symbols of American economic might. Now, even as the United States and its allies seek to destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, critics are questioning America's sensitivity to the concerns of the Islamic world and beyond.

Mary H. Cooper specializes in environmental, energy and defense issues. Before joining CQ Researcher as a staff writer in 1983, she was a reporter and Washington correspondent for the Rome daily newspaper l'Unita. She is the author of The Business of Drugs (CQ Press, 1990). She also is a contract translator-interpreter for the U.S. State Department. Cooper graduated from Hollins College in English.