US expats uneasy, not afraid

NEW DELHI, INDIA - Just a day after a large group of New Delhi's Muslim community protested peacefully against war on Iraq, American Tricia Hoban went for a stroll through Jamia Masjid, a venerated mosque. "I have not changed my habits - I have never felt threatened by either the Muslims or Hindus or any other Indians. In fact my friendships have just deepened over time," she says.

Hoban, who moved here three years ago for her husband's work, says locals stop to speak to her or look at her on the street, not because she is American, but because she is occasionally in Indian dress. "I get positive reactions ... because I seem to be making an effort to fit in," she says. "No one is wagging their finger and lecturing to me about George Bush if they disagree with the war."

PRISTINA, KOSOVO - In the heart of what would seem to be America-hating Europe, a small corner of the continent is in love with the US.

The 1999 NATO bombing of then-leader Slobodan Milosevic's forces, led by the US, has left the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo eternally grateful. The American flag flies everywhere alongside the Albanian flag, and a six-story-high poster of a waving Bill Clinton adorns Pristina's main road from the airport - Bill Clinton Boulevard. All this from a place that is more than 90 percent Muslim.

To Blerim Krasniqi, who was in a refugee camp in Macedonia during the NATO bombing, the debate surrounding Iraq reminds him of when the Kosovars were the people of Iraq and everyone was against the war except the Americans. Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Clinton - both of whom have had babies named after them here - were for intervention, while the Europeans were saying there was still time for debate and diplomacy. "If it wasn't for America, I wouldn't be here today. I would be in a camp or dead. But thanks to America, I live in Pristina and I work and have a life in my home town."

Lundrum Aliu, a Kosovar Albanian journalist, says that people here look more to the US than to Europe. "America was our savior and we believe that if there is someone who can make this place or the region or the whole world better, it's America. We are all convinced that only the United States' leadership can do this."

BEIRUT, LEBANON - Helen DelMissier Hachem moved from Chicago 2-1/2 years ago to retire here with her Lebanese husband of 31 years, Khalil Hachemo.

Despite the prospect of war in Iraq and the ever-present threat of violence along the Lebanon- Israel border, DelMissier Hachem says she has felt no animosity toward her. "It's one of the most astounding things of all ... I've never felt uncomfortable," she says. She puts it down to the "amazing" Lebanese ability to adapt to Western trends and lifestyles.

"There's scarcely a person on the streets who does not have a child or an aunt or some relative in the States. They feel an affinity to us," she says, adding that it's a lesson her fellow Americans should take to heart.

"The Lebanese are highly educated and widely traveled and have an uncanny insight into world events and history," she says. "I wish Americans had this same astuteness. We are a great people, but we are hindered by our geographical placement, our hugeness and self-sufficiency. These are desirable but a deterrent at times like these, when broad knowledge of the world and regional politics would be an asset."

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