US experts see more dangerous world for Americans

NEWS FROM SIX MONTHS AGO.

The global view of the United States’ role in world affairs has significantly deteriorated over the last year according to a BBC World Service poll of more than 26,000 people across 25 different countries.

President Bush announces his new Iraq strategy on 11 January 2007 (Eric Draper/White House photo)

As the United States government prepares to send a further 21,500 troops to Iraq, the survey reveals that three in four (73%) disapprove of how the US government has dealt with Iraq.

The poll shows that in the 18 countries that were previously polled, the average percentage saying that the United States is having a mainly positive influence in the world has dropped seven points from a year ago—from 36 percent to 29 percent—after having already dropped four points the year before. Across all 25 countries polled, one citizen in two (49%) now says the US is playing a mainly negative role in the world.

Over two-thirds (68%) believe the US military presence in the Middle East provokes more conflict than it prevents and only 17 percent believes US troops there are a stabilizing force.

The poll shows that world citizens disapprove of the way the US government has handled all six of the foreign policy areas explored. After the Iraq war (73% disapproval), majorities across the 25 countries also disapprove of US handling of Guantanamo detainees (67%), the Israeli-Hezbollah war (65%), Iran’s nuclear program (60%), global warming (56%), and North Korea’s nuclear program (54%).

Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes comments, “According to world public opinion, these days the US government hardly seems to be able to do anything right.”

The survey of 26,381 respondents across 25 countries was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork during November 2006 to January 2007 (mainly following the US mid-term elections).

GlobeScan president Doug Miller comments, “The US Administration’s recent decision to send more troops to Iraq is at odds with global public opinion that thinks the US military presence in the region provokes more conflict than it prevents. This policy is likely to further hurt America’s image.”

Most people across the planet dislike U.S. President George W. Bush. Even in his own
country he is not as popular, trusted, and admired as other leaders,
such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Experts are in agreement
that the primary reason why people now hate the United States is the
Bush administration's foreign policy. More and more people are less
keen on cooperating with the U.S. government in that policy or in the
war on terror. Its exclusively self-regarding outlook, its arrogant
unilateralism, its unwise and untrustworthy rhetoric, and its
belligerent posture is alienating and angering people in the East and
the West. Growing opposition will not only undermine the war on terror,
but its extreme manifestations in the Muslim World are attracting new
and numerous recruits to the ranks of al Qaeda and associates.

 NEWS FROM BEFORE 2004 ELECTION

A recent poll of people's perceptions of the United States taken by the Pew Research Center (online at http://www.people-press.org/)
in 20 countries indicates that since last year the United States'
popularity has declined considerably across the globe. Even in a
traditional ally such as Turkey, 83% of the population views the United
States negatively. Last year this number was only 55%. In Europe, a
long-time U.S. ally and cultural mate, majorities of people find
disfavor with the United States. According to the Pew study, the two
basic reasons why rejection of the United States is becoming a global
culture are: Bush's persona and U.S. foreign policy.

for decades, civil rights and civil liberties groups have exposed
constitutional violations and challenged abusive policies and
practices. In recent years, as well, international human rights
monitors have documented serious gaps in U.S. protections of the human
rights of vulnerable groups. serious
human rights violations were most apparent in the criminal justice system-including
police brutality, discriminatory racial disparities in incarceration, abusive
conditions of confinement, and state-sponsored executions, even of juvenile
offenders and the mentally handicapped. But extensively documented human
rights violations also included violations of workers' rights, discrimination
against gay men and lesbians in the military, and the abuse of migrant
child farmworkers.

 One third of all consumers in Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan,
Russia, and the United Kingdom said that U.S. foreign policy,
particularly the "war on terror" and the occupation of Iraq,
constituted their strongest impression of the United States.

Twenty percent of respondents in Europe and Canada said
they consciously avoided buying U.S. products as a protest against
those policies. That finding was consistent with a similar poll carried
out by GMI three weeks after Bush's November election victory.

 Israel trains US assassination squads in Iraq

Julian Borger in Washington
Tuesday December 9, 2003
The Guardian

Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and military sources said yesterday.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has sent urban warfare specialists to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the home of US special forces, and according to two sources, Israeli military "consultants" have also visited Iraq.

Nothing inflames Muslims even more against America than news reports that Israelis have been training American soldiers in suppression and torture techniques. They confirm accusations that the U.S. And Israel are in joint league against the Muslim world – exactly what Bin Laden claims. Such reports are rife on Arab TV, juxtaposing American soldiers bombing or raiding Iraqi homes with Israelis doing the same to Palestinians.

Foreign students in American universities have dropped by the hundreds of thousands, thus weakening future pro-American influence abroad. Foreigners also pay full tuition and provide most of the students for Ph.D. programs in the hard sciences. Many have led American technological discoveries as inventors and entrepreneurs. New registrations of foreign Muslim students have almost disappeared, thus further separating America from the Muslim world.