More than a year and a half since the World Trade Center attacks and amid a heated war with Iraq, Americans should take the time to re-examine the effectiveness of their country's foreign policy, said Daniel Lindsay, director of Why U.S.?, a documentary film.

"It is crucial to understand our opposition," he said. "We have to examine why we find ourselves a target."

Lindsay joined journalist Cody Shearer for an international voyage after the Sept. 11 attacks with hopes of capturing the emotional distress of those affected by the disaster and documenting their ways of dealing with it.

The pair joined about 350 students last night in 112 Kern for a showing of the film, followed by a discussion of American foreign policy.

The documentary was finished before the United States decided to go to war with Iraq, but its message is still applicable, he said.

"As cliché as it is, we will be the ones living with the decisions that we make now," he said. "So maybe it's time to step back and question -- to make sure we are really doing the right thing."

After the pair set out on the trip, they realized few explored why America was the victim of such violence, he said.

After 140 hours of interviews with professors, journalists and citizens, they cannot pinpoint one reason why the attacks occurred, Lindsay said.

However, he hopes the film will spur a debate among viewers about the United States' role in a world that is becoming more diverse, he said.

"We are entering a time where our world is becoming smaller, and we are becoming a more globalized society," he said.

Students can travel, read foreign newspapers and educate themselves about world history to examine why anti-American attitudes are prevalent, he said.

Nathan Hiller (graduate-psychology) said he has traveled abroad and witnessed negative attitudes toward the United States.

"They have this anger towards our cultural values," he said. "But at the same time they have this fascination with them."

Bryan McKinney (senior-health policy administration) said anti-American attitudes are not as common as many people think.

"It's obvious that [the attacks] were a buildup of years of planning from radical Islamic groups that don't represent the majority," he said.

The U.S. government should try to combat anti-American feelings by educating non-Western cultures, he said.

"We need to start feeding and educating the children of these populations," he said.

"We have to show them that we are a peaceful nation."