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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Survey finds U.S. image abroad is unfavorable

By Ronald Brownstein
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — The march to war with Iraq has severely tarnished America's image abroad, even in countries whose governments have joined President Bush's "coalition of the willing," a new independent survey in eight foreign nations has found.

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The survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that a majority of the public in each of the nations — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Italy, Poland and Turkey — continues to oppose participation in the invasion of Iraq that appears imminent.

At the same time, the poll found that positive attitudes toward the United States have plummeted in all of those countries, while disapproval of Bush's approach to foreign policy has soared.

"This is the most negative (international) public opinion about America and an American president that I've ever seen," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew project.

Quick success in an Iraqi war may soften these attitudes, Kohut said. But he believes even military victory is unlikely to eliminate them because they are rooted in more fundamental anxieties about the way America is exercising its might as the globe's sole superpower.

It was telling, he noted, that opinions remained so negative toward the United States generally and the war specifically even though pluralities in most countries said they believed the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would improve the quality of life for his people and stability in the Middle East.

In none of the countries did a majority say they have a favorable opinion of the United States. In most, lopsided majorities said they now view the United States unfavorably: 84 percent felt that way in Turkey, 71 percent in Germany, 68 percent in Russia and 67 percent in France.

America's image was strongly negative even in Spain (74 percent) and Italy (59 percent), whose governments are supporting Bush on Iraq. Only in Britain — where Prime Minister Tony Blair has been Bush's key ally — did the percentage who view America favorably (48 percent) exceed those with unfavorable views (40 percent).

The White House did not directly respond to the survey. But appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney argued that the United States faced so much resistance to war because "the rest of the world really hasn't had to come to grips" with the implications of the Sept. 11 attacks to the degree America did.