US faces crossroads in ties with Islamic world

Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's former two-term chief diplomat to the United Nations, warns that the level of anger in the Islamic world will become even stronger if the United States does not act swiftly to enhance its image among Muslims.

"I think the moment to rectify the situation is now," he told a forum in Washington last week about his new book, "Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust between America and the World."

In the thought-provoking book, Mahbubani, now a Singapore university dean, describes positive US contributions to global society and how the superpower abruptly walked away from the world when the Cold War ended.

He also conveys his own anguish over deepening distrust and resentment of the United States.

Even in East Asia, whose rise as an economic power would not have been possible without US political, military and financial support, "the tone of conversation about America, sadly speaking, has turned negative," he said.

Mahbubani recounted that when he asked his Muslim friends in private who was the single most revered figure in the Islamic world, "the answer almost inevitably is Osama bin Laden."