Views on U.S. Drop Sharply In Worldwide Opinion Poll

Bush's neo-con policies have produced a sharp decline in how the world views the United States with "hypocrisy" being the charge most often laid at the US door.

Nearly three-quarters of those polled in 25 countries disapprove of U.S. policies toward Iraq, and more than two-thirds said the U.S. military presence in the Middle East does more harm than good. Nearly half of those polled in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East said the United States is now playing a mainly negative role in the world.

More than 26,000 people were questioned for the survey.

This is an astonishing decline when one considers the almost universal support the US enjoyed post 9-11, when the general feeling worldwide was, "We Are All Americans Now".

Indeed, support for Bush continued even whilst he waged war in Afghanistan. So it's not the concept of war per se that is producing such revolt across the world. Nor is the revulsion at US policies limited merely to Iraq, although that obviously plays a major role.

In the 18 countries previously polled by the BBC, people who said the United States was having a generally positive influence in the world dropped to 29 percent, from 36 percent last year and 40 percent the year before.

"I thought it had bottomed out a year ago, but it's gotten worse, and we really are at historic lows," said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes. Kull attributed much of the problem to a growing perception of "hypocrisy" on the part of the United States in such areas as cooperation with the United Nations and other international bodies, especially involving the use of military force.

"The thing that comes up repeatedly is not just anger about Iraq," Kull said, adding that the BBC poll is consistent with numerous other surveys around the world that have measured attitudes toward the United States. "The common theme is hypocrisy. The reaction tends to be: 'You were a champion of a certain set of rules. Now you are breaking your own rules, so you are being hypocritical.' "

This hypocrisy manifests itself in the way the US claims to champion democracy and then punishes the Palestinians for daring to elect Hamas. It is evident in the way that Bush demands others obey UN resolutions when he himself - by invading Iraq - has treated the UN Charter with contempt. And of course, it is glaringly obvious in the way the US sides with Israel in the Middle East dispute, despite the fact that Israel has more than 65 UN resolutions against her, and can only ignore these resolutions because the US refuses to allow the rest of the world to take any action that would force Israel to comply.

However, any nation that claims to promote democracy and then indulges in horrors such as Guantanamo Bay is always going to be viewed as a hypocrite.

The BBC survey found that a majority of those polled hold negative views on U.S. policies on a wide range of issues. Sixty-seven percent disapproved of U.S. handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sixty-five percent disliked the U.S. stance on last summer's military conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, 60 percent opposed U.S. policies on Iran's nuclear program, 56 percent opposed Washington's position on global climate change and 54 percent disapproved of U.S. policies toward North Korea.

"If this keeps up, it's going to be very difficult for the United States to exercise its moral suasion in the world," Miller said.

The survey of 26,381 people was conducted in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. The polling took place from November to January.

It's interesting that the poll doesn't even touch upon the subject of torture, which is where I think Bush and the Republicans have done most to harm their nation's reputation. The sight of a Republican Congress bending over backwards to circumvent Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is not one that will be easily forgotten or forgiven.

What Bush has thrown away is the idea that the US is a force for good within the world. The neo-cons didn't care whether the US was admired as long as it was feared. However, by invading Iraq they appear to have shown the world the limitations of US power and, in doing so, decreased the world's fear of US military might.

That's a startling disaster any way you look at it. Under Bush's Presidency the US has become more hated and less feared. That is now simply a fact.

It's not one that Bush and his supporters should be proud of. Indeed, that factor will figure large when future generations measure the success or failure of his Presidency. And that factor is the main reason why I honestly think he will be remembered as the worst ever US President.

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