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Americans, Britons Fault Foreign Policy |
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Wednesday, 4 April 2007CAIRO ÔÇö An overwhelming majority of Americans and Britons think that their leaders were pursuing wrong-headed foreign policies that made the world more dangerous, two American and British polls showed Tuesday, April 3.
The third edition of the Public Agenda Confidence in US Foreign Policy Index, which is published by with Foreign Affairs, America's most influential publication on international affairs and foreign policy, in cooperation with Public Agenda think tank, showed that Americans are increasingly anxious about the direction of US foreign policy.
"This latest Confidence in US Foreign Policy Index provides mounting evidence of widespread public doubt about the country's international position," said the report, which was released Tuesday on Public Agenda's website.
The report introduced a new index called the "Anxiety Indicator," which is billed as gauging Americans' anxiousness or contentment with US foreign policy.
The 200-mark Indicator stood at 137 ÔÇö above the neutral mid-point of 100 and seven points higher than it was in September 2006.
"The Anxiety Indicator is moving closer to the 150 mark, the 'red zone' that to me would signal a full blown crisis of public confidence," Daniel Yankelovich, chairman of US Public Agenda think tank said in the report.
Almost three out of four said the country was not doing a good job as a world leader in creating a more peaceful and prosperous planet, while 68 percent said the rest of the world saw the United States negatively.
"The new research provides striking evidence that Americans' anguish over Iraq is spilling over to other areas of foreign policy -- with serious potential effects on the policy options available to current and future leaders," the report noted.
Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs' managing editor, said in the report the Americans are disillusioned with the Iraq war, but the research goes deeper.
"We are seeing the public seriously inclined to limit America's foreign policy options because they no longer trust Washington's judgment," he said.
Some 59 per cent of respondents said they did not trust the government to tell the truth, up 10 points since last September.
A constant nightmare for Bush is the invasion of Iraq as he is trying his best to sell his unpopular war to the public.
Matthew Dowd, Bush's chief strategist in the 2004 crucial presidential race, said Sunday, April 1, that he lost faith in Bush, blasting his "my way or the highway" mentality.
Click hereto read the report in full.
Wrong Track
The public skepticism and anxiety in the US is mirrored in Britain with the majority believe that the country should play a more modest global role and cut its coat according to its cloth.
The YouGov survey for The Daily Telegraph, published on Tuesday, showed that Britons see their government going on the wrong track and want to scale down their country's global role.
Sixty-five percent of voters said Britain should "not seek to have as much military influence in the world as we have now."
Most voters believed that it is time for Britain to abandon its great-power pretensions and focus on the interior.
They say that Britain should mode itself after Sweden, Canada or even Belgium.
Nearly 60 per cent of Britons said that British troops should be withdrawn from both
Afghanistan and Iraq more or less immediately.
Britain has about 7,200 troops in Iraq, but the government has said it will withdraw about 1,600 this year.
The government has also pledged an extra 1,400 troops for Afghanistan, taking the country's contingent in the NATO-led Force to 7,700.
The YouGov poll showed that two voters in every three believe Britain is already over-extended and should reduce its overseas commitments, should spend less and should not worry if British influence is thereby diminished.
British Prime minister Tony Blair has drawn fire for following the American lead and backing wartime Bush in his invasion of Iraq.
Former US president Jimmy Carter had criticized Blair for being "so compliant and subservient" to Bush.
A recent Guardian/ICM poll has showed that the large majority of Britons opposed the Blair-Bush political marriage and wanted a divorce and independence from the US.
4 April 2007
Islam Online |
Wednesday, 4 April 2007
Americans, Britons Fault Foreign Po
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