June 4, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424

WASHINGTON, June 3: World opinion of the United States has sunk following the Iraq war and many people have little confidence in US President George W. Bush, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project found in its survey that the US-led war had deepened an existing rift between America and Europe and angered many Muslims around the world.

“The speed of the war in Iraq and the prevailing belief that the Iraqi people are better off as a result have modestly improved the image of America. But in most countries, opinions of the US are markedly lower than they were a year ago,” the Pew survey said.

“The war has widened the rift between Americans and Western Europeans, further inflamed the Muslim world, softened support for the (US) war on terrorism, and significantly weakened global public support for the pillars of the post-World War II era, the UN and the North Atlantic alliance,” it said.

Nearly 16,000 people in some 20 countries were polled during the last month for their view on how the war had affected opinion of the United States, Bush, the United Nations and the Middle East.

The study found that some three-quarters of those surveyed in France, or 76 per cent, wanted a less dependent relationship with the United States on security and diplomacy matters.

A majority of German respondents, or 57 per cent of those surveyed, were also less inclined to have a close relationship with Washington on those issues.

“People in most countries rate Vladimir Putin, Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair more highly than they do Bush,” it said.

It found that only modest percentages have confidence Bush will do the right thing in respect of international relations.

“The bottom has fallen out of support for America in most of the Muslim world,” it said.

“Negative views of the US among Muslims, which have been largely limited to countries in the Middle East, have spread to Muslim populations in Indonesia and Nigeria,” it said.

The Pew survey, chaired by former Clinton administration secretary of state Madeleine Albright, has a three to four per cent margin of error.—AFP