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According to Asla Aydintasbas, a Turkish journalist, US-Turkish relations are in flux and Ankara is questioning its strategic alliance with the US. A mutual mistrust has developed because the two countries do not clearly state their needs and plans to each other. The US is particularly culpable in not revealing its intentions regarding the Kurdish population in Northern Iraq. Abdul-Reda Assiri argued that the US and its reputation have been tarnished in the region and that the US has failed to achieve its objectives because of its unwavering pro-Israel bias in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and its inability to distinguish between Islam and terrorism. Mustafa Al-Feki also argued that specific US policies cause tensions but suggested that this could be improved if the US understood and accommodated local cultural needs. The US must see beyond the idea that modernization necessarily means westernization. Murhaf Jouejati, Syrian Adjunct Scholar at MEI, focused on the pending Syria Accountability Act, which he predicts will alienate the Syrian government and rob them of any viable option for normalizing relations with either the US or Israel. The US should reexamine its policy and consider adopting a carrot and stick approach similar to that of the EU. Dialog with Syria does not mean appeasement and the US should engage and negotiate with Damascus. Criticizing Syrian diplomacy and human rights violations, Jouejati argued that a more nuanced US approach could be effective in both cultivating regional peace and creating a domestic environment in Syria in which reformist elements could emerge.

All four participants agreed that the people in the Middle East are disappointed by US policy since September 11th. The US, which in the minds of many in the region represented a beacon of freedom and prosperity, has let them down. Specifically, the US has an overbearing approach to the region; demanding to be heard and obeyed while rarely offering to listen and comprise. Perhaps one of the most notable outcomes of this approach is that people in the region increasingly no longer make the distinction between individual Americans and general US policy. Al-Feki and Assiri disagreed, arguing that people in the Middle East (or at least Kuwait) still see a difference, but Jouejati and Aydintasbas sense a rise in anger and hatred towards all things American. Most participants noted that one way to overcome this anti-American sentiment is to establish dialogs with average citizens in the region. The US should reestablish cultural outreach centers, publish and broadcast messages in Arabic about US intentions in the region, focus on education reform, and perhaps mostly importantly in terms of over-all effect, help Iraqis communicate with the Arab and Muslim world about their own perceptions of post-war Iraq. Indeed, open communication by sharing perceptions and attitudes was overwhelmingly identified as the most effective way to restore relations between America and the countries of the Middle East.