America has drawn much flak over the Iraq war. Many critics are men and women of honour. Yet some of the criticism makes the US appear a rogue state and a menace to world order. This is overdone. America's role in the world and in the Middle East today must be viewed in proper perspective and balance.

Ever since it became heavily engaged in global affairs from 1941, America has on the whole been a force for good. It played critical roles in saving the world from Nazism and communism. It set up a new international order after World War II based on multilateral institutions, security alliances and initiatives like the Marshall Plan to revive the economies of Western Europe.

America has made signal contributions to the security and economic well being of the Asia-Pacific region. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan acquired their economic prowess under the American security umbrella and with access to the American market. It cost America over 30,000 lives to protect South Korea from a communist takeover in the early 1950s.

Together with Japan, America also fostered the economic development of Southeast Asia and helped the region to deal with the threat of communism. America's Vietnam venture in the 1960s and 1970s was controversial, but at that time it bought non-communist Southeast Asia precious time to develop its economic, political, and military strength so that it was better prepared to deal with the threat from communism in 1975 than it would have been in 1965.

To say that America is a benign power is not to say that it does not act in its own national interests. Of course it does. It is rather to say that it has often acted in enlightened self-interest that also benefits others.

Today, America remains the lynchpin of the Asian power balance and its overseas investments and access to its domestic market have been important drivers of Asian economic expansion. Only America had the power and resources to remove the Taleban regime in Afghanistan which had provided sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and where hundreds of militants from Southeast Asia had been trained. Imagine how much more difficult it would be for countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines to fight terrorism if training and support for terrorists had continued from Afghanistan.