On Wednesday, the New York Times ran a front-page headline, “Global Image Of the U.S. Is Worsening,” based on the latest Pew poll of international attitudes toward the U.S. Of the 14 nations polled, only Russia and Pakistan view the U.S. more favorably today than they did in 1999/2000. Among the Islamic nations, favorable opinion of the US dropped sharply following our invasion of Afghanistan and accelerated downward following the ouster of Saddam. But even favorable opinion in non-Islamic nations (save France and Russia) slid downward after Afghanistan before plummeting post-Iraq. Thus, on balance and taking Pew’s numbers at face value, America was viewed more favorably prior to the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

But did our higher favorable ratings necessarily translate into more security? Did it discourage al Qaeda from setting up terror training camps where up to 10,000 may have passed through, including Zarqawi and his successor in Iraq, al-Masri? Did it matter to the terrorists who met in Kuala Lumpur in 2000 to plot the September 11 attacks or those who struck our barracks in Dhahran, our embassies in Africa and the USS Cole? Do you think the world’s favorable opinion of the US would have cratered if we had launched a massive attack on those camps in Afghanistan prior to September 11?

So while we should always work to enhance our image abroad, there will be times when our national security policies don’t poll well in the world. Post-September 11 is one of those.