Annie
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051202/wl_nm/mideast_usa_poll_dc
Arab nations deeply suspicious of US motives: poll
By Sue PlemingFri Dec 2, 3:23 PM ET
Arab nations are acutely suspicious of the Bush administration's "democracy" agenda in the Middle East and believe the U.S. invasion of Iraq has made the region less secure, said a poll released on Friday.
The poll, conducted in six Arab countries in October, found 78 percent of respondents thought there was more terrorism because of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, with four out of five saying the war had brought less peace to the region.
Asked which countries posed the biggest threat to their nations, a majority chose Israel and the United States.
"The one fascinating outcome of this study is that the respondents view the United States and its policies through the prism of Iraq and Israel," said Professor Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, who conducted the poll with Zogby International in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Rather than being a model to inspire Arab nations to adopt democratic goals, Telhami said respondents felt the opposite was true of the United States, whose image has been tarnished by scandals involving abuse by U.S. forces of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and at a U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Bush administration has made spreading democracy in the Middle East a key foreign policy goal and the State Department has appointed a special envoy, Karen Hughes, to improve the U.S. image abroad, especially in Islamic nations. During her overseas trips, however, Hughes has been greeted with Muslim anger over the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq.
In the new poll, 69 percent of those surveyed doubted that spreading democracy was the real U.S. objective. Oil, protecting Israel, dominating the region and weakening the Muslim world were seen as U.S. goals.
"America's presence in Iraq is seen as a negative. It is scaring people about American intentions and having the opposite intended impact on Arab public opinion," Telhami said in an interview.
FRANCE AS SUPERPOWER
More than half -- 58 percent -- said Iraq was less democratic than before the war and three of four said Iraqis were worse off.
Asked from a list of countries which they would like to be the superpower, the first choice was France with 21 percent, followed by China with 13 percent, Pakistan and Germany tied with 10 percent, Britain with 7 percent, the United States with 6 percent and finally Russia with 5 percent.Yeah! Give them French liberties, starting with throwing out the headcoverings!
"It's troubling for the United States that people are rooting for other countries in this global (superpower) competition," Telhami said at a news conference. Not really, decisions are not made by polls, at least since Clinto left office.
France, which opposed the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, was also seen as the country where people had the most freedom and its President Jacques Chirac, was the leader most admired by respondents. :rotflmao:
The poll was taken before an outbreak of riots in France by disaffected youths, many of them Muslims of North African ethnicity, which provoked Muslim criticism of conditions for minorities in France.how old are these numbers?
they don't say.
Israeli President Ariel Sharon, U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were the most disliked by those polled.
On Iran, most of the respondents said the U.S. adversary should have the right to a nuclear program and international pressure should cease while 21 percent said it should be pressured to stop its nuclear ambitions.
Interviewers polled 800 people each from Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia; 500 each were questioned in Jordan and Lebanon and 217 were interviewed in the United Arab Emirates.
The margin of error was 3.5 percentage points to 4.5 percentage points in all the countries, except for the United Arab Emirates, where it was plus or minus 6.8 points. no explanation given for the differences.
