U.S. Foreign Policy Assertive, Divisive

PARIS -- On Sept. 12, Le Monde newspaper printed a headline for the ages: "We are all Americans."

Such sentiment in France, whose Le Monde-reading elite tends to snipe at American politicians even as it consumes American products, epitomized a global outpouring of sympathy for the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the following months, former foes and staunch allies backed what the United States called the war on terrorism. They generally regarded it as a smart, methodical campaign that did the world a service by toppling Afghanistan's Taliban regime and dismantling the Al Qaeda terrorist network base there. U.S. pressure combined with the horror of Sept. 11 to spur many countries to confront festering problems of Islamic extremism, border security and transnational crime.

The aftermath brought international transformations such as a remarkable U.S.-Russian partnership. The realpolitik of the war on terrorism created instant winners (Israel), forlorn losers (Latin America) and unlikely allies (Pakistan).

But in many ways and in many places, the attacks did not change the world. The post-Sept. 11 period of solidarity appears to have dissipated, a mere pause in a steady rise of disillusionment with the world's only remaining superpower, according to interviews conducted by Times correspondents around the world.

With a few important exceptions, foreign leaders and voters say the U.S. may have missed a historic opportunity to forge a broad international coalition and revamp its increasingly negative image.

"There was an all-time high splash of pro-American sentiment after Sept. 11," said Yuri A. Levada, director of VTSIOM, one of Russia's main polling groups. "But we soon saw that America didn't know what to do with all the support it was getting from all over the world, including Russia."

Today, critics accuse the U.S. of aggressive unilateralism. Rightly or wrongly, they regard the Bush administration--with the notable exception of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell--as a caricature of arrogance. They cite President Bush's "axis of evil" speech, the legal limbo of the prisoners in U.S. military custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, American opposition to an international criminal court and environmental treaty, and, most prominently, the current war of words on Iraq.

If the U.S. marches alone against Iraq, it might find itself with fewer friends than in a long time, according to the interviews.