Worldwide Distrust of US Intentions Follows 11 Years of War

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/12-0

"American influence on the world stage is being sapped by widespread distrust of US intentions, not just in the Middle East and south Asia but also among traditional European allies," according to the Guardian newspaper, citing a new survey performed by its media partner and global research company YouGov.


An anti-US protest in Pakistan. The poll found 78% of Pakistanis did not trust America to act responsibly. (Photograph: Rajput Yasir/Demotix/Corbis)

As the US commemorated another 9/11 anniversary on Tuesday, the results from the global poll shows that after nearly eleven years of war and military engagements in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere, the US reputation for upholding human rights, respecting international law, and as a beacon for democracy has taken a tremendous hit.

According to the Guardian:

Negative Arab and Pakistani perceptions of America as overweening and untrustworthy clearly pose a daunting foreign policy challenge for the Obama administration. The fact that 78% of Pakistanis questioned by YouGov said they did not trust America to act responsibly underlines Washington's serious lack of soft power in the region as it attempts to extricate itself from Afghanistan.

Attitudes towards the US in the Arab world were nearly as negative. Those respondents in the Middle East and north Africa who said they trusted America were outnumbered by more than two to one by those who said they did not, and 39% said they did not trust America at all.