"The majority of Americans do not want us to be there" <This is democrcy right what happened to majority counts?
I am fully aware that the government does not always speak for the american people.
"Bush or even many Americans even have any concept of what Khalifah or Shariah are. Too many people equate it with terrorism. " <I see that as if you are trying to justify why the american government is backing ethopia or pushed Ethopia into fighting Islamist.
Far be it from justification. Unfounded fears are not justifiable. But, they are an explanation as to why people do things. Very few people in this world act with the belief they are wrong. Erroneous thought is what leads to unjustifiable error.
Up until a few weeks ago, many Americans would not have even been able to find Ethiopia on a map, much less know anything about the country. Even today I believe if you ask the typical American what kind of country Ethiopia is, they would answer that they think it is a Mid-Eastern Islamic country.
Americans have a tendancy to be very uninformed about many of the World's affairs.
It has only been in the past 5 years that the Muslim population in the US has been noticed. Although the number of immigrants is declining the Muslim population is growing, through reverts that are seeing the truth of Islam and liking what they see.
Over all there will still be many mistakes made in Africa and the Mideast. These mistakes are not from malice, but the result of ignorance. the American Public has a long history of being able to ignore the problems of the world. But, times are changing we are waking up and seeing that the problems of any nation eventually affects us.
Granted any aid to Ethiopia was misused and the US should have been sending food not money. If it had been widly known here that Ethiopia was using american money to buy soviet war planes instead of food, there would have been a huge out cry of indignation.
Americans had an image of Ethiopia being the world's poorest country and the people dieing of starvation by the thousands each day.
Sadly too many Americans put their trust in the elected politicians and never pay any attention as to what they are doing until something becomes a disaster.