Antiwar.com, If U.S. President George W. Bush was surprised on his recent trip to Indonesia by the negative image the country's Muslim leaders had of his administration, he is unlikely to be reassured by two new surveys from Latin America and Europe.
Nearly 90 percent of more than 500 elite figures in six Latin American countries polled by the University of Miami School of Business and Zogby International gave Bush a negative rating. Fifty percent of respondents gave his performance the lowest possible rating: “poor.”
Bush's highest negatives were found in the region's traditional powerhouses: Brazil (98 percent), Argentina (93 percent) and Mexico (92 percent), according to the survey.
A second poll carried out by Eurobarometer for the European Commission of all 15 European Union (EU) countries found that more than two-thirds of citizens saw the U.S.-led war in Iraq as “not justified.”
Only six percent of the 7,515 people polled said they believe Washington should be in charge of security in Iraq, while 43 percent agreed the job should be given to the United Nations.
Even in Baghdad itself, pollsters found skepticism about U.S. intentions running high, according to a new Gallup poll of the Iraqi capital.
Only four percent of respondents there said they accepted Washington's main stated reason for going to war
