Prior to the tragic and heinous World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, the world view of the United States was solidly of the opinion that the world super power was bullying its way through foreign issues, choosing to take unilateral positions on things like the Kyoto Treaty and the UN racism conference.

As the government and her citizens reel from the recent attacks, the government is demonstrating that it hasn�t changed its stripes.

With much of the world sympathy on its side as a result of the 6,000-plus deaths, many countries are grudgingly signing on to Mr. Bush�s pronouncements of "my way or get out of the way," as he announces his plans for retaliation.

In his Sept. 20 speech before Congress, the president told world leaders that everyone of them has a decision to make: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

He didn�t qualify his statement to say, either a leader is with the U.S. when the U.S. is right. If president Bush decides to bomb Afghanistan, or Iraq, for that matter, a leader is either with that decision, or the leader is with the "terrorists."

President Bush on another occasion told the governments of the world that if for any reason the United States determines that a government is dealing in financial ways with "terrorists," then the U.S. government will freeze that country�s U.S. assets.

President Bush didn�t leave any room for debate by the accused parties. If the U.S. finds it convenient to accuse, for example, a country like Libya of financial dealings with "terrorists," then appropriate actions will be taken against that country and possibly all those who deal with that country.

To the Taliban, the U.S. government has said, "turn over bin Laden." The Taliban replied, "show us the evidence against him." To which the U.S. replied, "don�t ask for evidence, just hand him over!"

The U.S. first applied the pressure to Pakistan for cooperation. With its close links to the Afghanistan and the Taliban, the U.S. leaned on Pakistan to appeal to the Taliban to turn over bin Laden and then persuaded Pakistan to consider lending the U.S. military its airspace when it decides to attack.

This was a politically risky decision for the Pakistan government, but it has it payoffs. For example, the U.S. has agreed to wipe out billions in Pakistani debt.

But consider what the reaction from the U.S. government would have been if Pakistan had played hardball. What would have been the response of an enraged Pres. Bush, and would we now be reading anti-Pakistan headlines in the U.S. media to shape opinion against Pakistan?

As time wanes, and the grief from the losses and anger subsides, public opinion and the world view of Mr. Bush is subject to change. Already, there are signs that support in the Muslim world for the U.S.-led war on terrorism is wavering in the absence of concrete proof of Osama bin Laden�s complicity in the attacks on New York and Washington. Officials in Pakistan complain that the U.S. government has only supplied information on bin Laden�s links to the 1998 bombings of the U.S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

On Sept. 23, former Pakistan foreign minister Sartaj Aziz said the issue of evidence was crucial given U.S. preparations for military action against Afghanistan and possible reprisals against targets in other Muslim countries.

The United States ought to present its findings to some international judicial body before unleashing its military machine, Aziz argued, citing the thick dossier that had been compiled against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic prior to his transfer to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa warned in Jordan that U.S. strikes against any Arab state would be unacceptable. "Clearly, we would never accept a strike against an Arab country, no matter what the circumstances," said Mr. Mussa, who heads a 22-nation group.

Iran and Syria also recently said they are in favor of an international coalition to fight terrorism under the auspices of the United Nations. The call was made after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad talked on the phone.

At the outset of the tragedy, all of these leaders voiced sympathy and support for Mr. Bush, and rightfully so.

As America moves to bring the responsible parties to justice, she must not let arrogance, pride or her sense of power blind her.

The world is watching.