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Originally posted by maxman
I agree that lots of countries supported the war but having most of the world opinion against such a war is not a victory in the war against terrorism. Especially since the war has been handled so badly.
Europe's leaders may be divided on the Iraq crisis, but the majority of people across the continent are united in their opposition to war, polls suggest.
From Portugal to Russia, opinion surveys suggest that without a further UN resolution, most Europeans are overwhelmingly against war - and even a second resolution would not convince many of them.
From Portugal to Russia, opinion surveys suggest that without a further UN resolution, most Europeans are overwhelmingly against war - and even a second resolution would not convince many of them.
If most of Europe and Africa's populations are against this war, imagine it's impact on Muslim populations and the impact on their opinions of the US. Making most of the world despise the US is NOT the way to win a war on terrorism. You need as many allies as possible. You need friends to share information and resources, not distrust you.
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 6 (OneWorld) - A new, 20-country poll showing a sharp decline in positive attitudes towards the United States in the wake of Iraq War since just last summer has much of the Washington foreign policy community reeling.
The poll, the latest in a series carried out by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, found a substantial drop in the percentage of Europeans who said they felt either somewhat or very favorable towards the United States and a much steeper plunge in favorable attitudes throughout the Islamic world, and especially in Arab countries.
"The war has widened the rifts between Americans and Western Europeans, further inflamed the Muslim world, softened support for the war on terrorism, and significantly weakened global public support for the pillars of the post-World War II era--the UN and the North Atlantic Alliance," according to a narrative summary released with the report here Tuesday.
With the exception of Morocco, majorities in all of the predominantly Muslim countries, including even Kuwait, said they now feared that the United States might carry out a military attack against their nations, while majorities in every country surveyed, including Israel, said they thought the administration of President George W. Bush has sided with Israel against the Palestinians instead of being even-handed.
Even more worrisome, solid majorities in the Palestinian Authority, Indonesia and Jordan--and nearly half of those in Morocco and Pakistan--said they have at least some confidence in Osama bin Laden to "do the right thing regarding world affairs." Conversely, support for the U.S. "war on terror" has declined sharply throughout the Muslim world.
"It's going to be a real challenge to turn Muslim opinion around," said Andrew Kohut, the Project director, about the findings in the eight Muslim countries covered in the survey which was released as Bush himself took part in a meeting with Arab leaders in Egypt.
The findings alarmed many foreign-policy analysts and former policy-makers. "Something I never, ever thought I would see," said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, "is the fear of American power," as illustrated by the results. Albright, who chaired an international board that advised the Project's implementation, also expressed concern about public attitudes in Washington's NATO allies. "For those of us who care about NATO, this is a red flag. The only way to get beyond this is to find more ways we can work together in NATO."
The report found that strong majorities, ranging from 57 percent in Germany to 76 percent in France, in five of seven NATO countries surveyed said they support a more independent relationship with Washington on diplomatic and security matters than has prevailed in the past.
"There is a growing resentment out there, and it cannot be in our interest to have much of the world hoping...that we're going to stumble," said Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Economic Strategy Institute and author of a new book on U.S. foreign policy entitled 'Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions.' "A superpower has to be super-sensitive."
The poll, which was based on responses by some 16,000 respondents over the last month in five western European nations, Russia, eight predominantly Muslim countries, including the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel, Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, South Korea, and Canada, found that approval of the United States has fallen in virtually every country, including in those, like Britain, that supported the U.S. in the war.
Favorability ratings were highest in Israel (79 percent) and Britain (70 percent) and lowest in Turkey (15 percent), Pakistan (13 percent), and Jordan and the PA, where only one percent of respondents said they had either very or somewhat favorable opinions of the U.S.
Declines were sharpest in the Islamic world. In Indonesia, for example, only 15 percent expressed favorable opinions of the U.S., a precipitous plunge from 61 percent just last summer.
The declines, according to Kohut, did not begin in mid-2002. Pew has been monitoring global attitudes towards the US since just before Bush took office; between then and 2002 U.S. favorability ratings abroad have fallen in virtually every country covered by the survey. In Turkey, for example, the U.S. was considered favorably by a majority of 52 percent of respondents in 2000. The percentage dropped to 30 percent by mid-2000 and then plunged to 15 percent after the Iraq war.
The new poll found generally high levels of support for U.S. political and cultural values compared to the policies and popularity of Bush himself. In Europe, in particular, respondents related their negative feelings towards the U.S. more to Bush than to "America in general."
But to some analysts, like Minxin Pei of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, those findings were no cause for comfort. "Anti-Americanism is in large part generated by people who admire American values," he said. "It is the inconsistency (between values and performance) that is driving anti-Americanism abroad."
"The question of whether this kind of hypocrisy (that is perceived in U.S. conduct) isn't absolutely necessary given (Washington's) current role in the global system," according to Francis Fukuyama of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). "It certainly is irritating to people."
Some analysts declared themselves heartened by the results. "I think there's new-found respect for American power," said Max Boot, a neo-conservative commentator at the Council on Foreign Relations. "I'd rather be respected than look weak and helpless as we did on September 12 (2001)" when many governments rallied to the side of the United States after the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
"World leadership is not about popularity," Danielle Pletka, another neo-conservative at the American Enterprise Institute, told Newhouse News. "The right thing is not always the popular thing."
Still others stressed that Washington needed to do more to communicate its good intentions. "There are a lot of people who are ill-informed," said Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen. "We have to continue our policies that will bring the advancement of freedom. We have to keep working on our message."
But others insist that the problem will not be solved through public diplomacy but rather by reconsidering basic policies. "The United States needs to adopt a new policy that would use military force only as a last resort in the defense of truly vital national interests," said Ivan Eland of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.
The poll, the latest in a series carried out by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, found a substantial drop in the percentage of Europeans who said they felt either somewhat or very favorable towards the United States and a much steeper plunge in favorable attitudes throughout the Islamic world, and especially in Arab countries.
"The war has widened the rifts between Americans and Western Europeans, further inflamed the Muslim world, softened support for the war on terrorism, and significantly weakened global public support for the pillars of the post-World War II era--the UN and the North Atlantic Alliance," according to a narrative summary released with the report here Tuesday.
With the exception of Morocco, majorities in all of the predominantly Muslim countries, including even Kuwait, said they now feared that the United States might carry out a military attack against their nations, while majorities in every country surveyed, including Israel, said they thought the administration of President George W. Bush has sided with Israel against the Palestinians instead of being even-handed.
Even more worrisome, solid majorities in the Palestinian Authority, Indonesia and Jordan--and nearly half of those in Morocco and Pakistan--said they have at least some confidence in Osama bin Laden to "do the right thing regarding world affairs." Conversely, support for the U.S. "war on terror" has declined sharply throughout the Muslim world.
"It's going to be a real challenge to turn Muslim opinion around," said Andrew Kohut, the Project director, about the findings in the eight Muslim countries covered in the survey which was released as Bush himself took part in a meeting with Arab leaders in Egypt.
The findings alarmed many foreign-policy analysts and former policy-makers. "Something I never, ever thought I would see," said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, "is the fear of American power," as illustrated by the results. Albright, who chaired an international board that advised the Project's implementation, also expressed concern about public attitudes in Washington's NATO allies. "For those of us who care about NATO, this is a red flag. The only way to get beyond this is to find more ways we can work together in NATO."
The report found that strong majorities, ranging from 57 percent in Germany to 76 percent in France, in five of seven NATO countries surveyed said they support a more independent relationship with Washington on diplomatic and security matters than has prevailed in the past.
"There is a growing resentment out there, and it cannot be in our interest to have much of the world hoping...that we're going to stumble," said Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Economic Strategy Institute and author of a new book on U.S. foreign policy entitled 'Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions.' "A superpower has to be super-sensitive."
The poll, which was based on responses by some 16,000 respondents over the last month in five western European nations, Russia, eight predominantly Muslim countries, including the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel, Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, South Korea, and Canada, found that approval of the United States has fallen in virtually every country, including in those, like Britain, that supported the U.S. in the war.
Favorability ratings were highest in Israel (79 percent) and Britain (70 percent) and lowest in Turkey (15 percent), Pakistan (13 percent), and Jordan and the PA, where only one percent of respondents said they had either very or somewhat favorable opinions of the U.S.
Declines were sharpest in the Islamic world. In Indonesia, for example, only 15 percent expressed favorable opinions of the U.S., a precipitous plunge from 61 percent just last summer.
The declines, according to Kohut, did not begin in mid-2002. Pew has been monitoring global attitudes towards the US since just before Bush took office; between then and 2002 U.S. favorability ratings abroad have fallen in virtually every country covered by the survey. In Turkey, for example, the U.S. was considered favorably by a majority of 52 percent of respondents in 2000. The percentage dropped to 30 percent by mid-2000 and then plunged to 15 percent after the Iraq war.
The new poll found generally high levels of support for U.S. political and cultural values compared to the policies and popularity of Bush himself. In Europe, in particular, respondents related their negative feelings towards the U.S. more to Bush than to "America in general."
But to some analysts, like Minxin Pei of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, those findings were no cause for comfort. "Anti-Americanism is in large part generated by people who admire American values," he said. "It is the inconsistency (between values and performance) that is driving anti-Americanism abroad."
"The question of whether this kind of hypocrisy (that is perceived in U.S. conduct) isn't absolutely necessary given (Washington's) current role in the global system," according to Francis Fukuyama of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). "It certainly is irritating to people."
Some analysts declared themselves heartened by the results. "I think there's new-found respect for American power," said Max Boot, a neo-conservative commentator at the Council on Foreign Relations. "I'd rather be respected than look weak and helpless as we did on September 12 (2001)" when many governments rallied to the side of the United States after the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
"World leadership is not about popularity," Danielle Pletka, another neo-conservative at the American Enterprise Institute, told Newhouse News. "The right thing is not always the popular thing."
Still others stressed that Washington needed to do more to communicate its good intentions. "There are a lot of people who are ill-informed," said Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen. "We have to continue our policies that will bring the advancement of freedom. We have to keep working on our message."
But others insist that the problem will not be solved through public diplomacy but rather by reconsidering basic policies. "The United States needs to adopt a new policy that would use military force only as a last resort in the defense of truly vital national interests," said Ivan Eland of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.
Is this a victory in the war against terrorism?
I say not.
), I'd like to ask you what is the public opinion in your country regarding the Iraq war? 
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