If The United States Does Invade Iraq, Some Of The First Casualties May Be The Globalized Marketplace They Helped To Build.

In Muslim nations, franchised stores like McDonald's and KFC have already been attacked, threatening to brake a recent surge of investment in franchised businesses, many of them originating in the United States.

At the same time, a growing number of knockoff products have appeared in Europe, imitating popular American brands but appealing to anti-American sentiment in Europe's large Muslim population and among other Europeans opposed to American policy in Iraq.

Soft drinks challenging Coca-Cola and claiming solidarity with Muslim causes are multiplying. After a Coke knockoff called Mecca Cola was introduced in November, two similar drinks, Muslim Up and Arab Cola, were rolled out in France this month. Though meant to appeal to young Arabs and to support Muslim causes, the products also seem to be cashing in on general anti-American sentiment.

In the Middle East, McDonald's introduced a product this month -- the McArabia, a chicken sandwich on Arabian-style bread -- with a sales and promotion campaign that overshadowed the flagship Big Mac, an effort that one French newspaper said was meant to "relaunch McDonald's in the Muslim world."

In recent weeks two McDonald's restaurants in Saudi Arabia, at Kharj and Dammam, were the targets of unsuccessful firebomb attacks.
New York Times