One question agitating a million minds needs to be answered; why do the people not voice opposition to the belligerent US attitude towards the Muslim world? Why the fate of Palestine and Kashmir is still hanging? Why America 's violation of international law for attacking Iraq, that has left 100, 000 civilians dead is not protested against? Pakistan has understood now that peaceful atmosphere in the region can be established only through negotiations with the militants. But there is a huge uproar in the western media that this sort of truce is not in the favour of US and it should be scuttled somehow. The increasingly clear failure of American forces in Iraq, despite use of highly sophisticated weapons shows that the American imperial power is on the wane. This resounding failure has created further danger of renewed 9/11-type attacks, a fact President Bush has admitted himself. The Bush administration's flawed Iraq war policy is being widely criticized because it has not just eroded the superpower stature but also inflamed rabid anti-American feelings in hundreds of thousands of people. In our region, the US wants to preserve its alliance with Pakistan just to pull its own interests ahead. But we must focus on our own interests first rather than doing its bidding. -ISHFAQUE AHMED RUSTAMANI, Dadu, via e-mail, May 31.