Anniversary of 7-7 London Bombing: How Britons Regard US

Since today is the anniversary of the July 7th bombs that rocked London, it seems as good a time as any to look at the results of a poll, released Monday, that tells us how Britons - once and possibly still (even given the attitude now) our greatest ally post 9-11 - regard Americans and the U.S. in general.

It ain't pretty, boys and girls. Yet - although I know a few will race to badmouth England for having such a piss poor view of us/US - I'd hazard to say it's well-deserved criticism. Since Mr. Bush took office (and boy, do I ever mean took office), we have become the full three-dimensional embodiment of the Ugly American.

Snip, snip:

People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.

The United States is no longer a symbol of hope to Britain and the British no longer have confidence in their transatlantic cousins to lead global affairs, according to the poll published in The Daily Telegraph.

The YouGov poll found that 77 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that the US is "a beacon of hope for the world".

... the poll found that only 12 percent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.

A massive 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.

... US President George W. Bush fared significantly worse, with just one percent rating him a "great leader" against 77 percent who deemed him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.

More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said America is essentially an imperial power seeking world domination. And 81 per cent of those who took a view said President George W Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.

US policy in Iraq was similarly derided, with only 24 percent saying they felt that the US military action there was helping to bring democracy to the country.

... In answer to other questions, a majority of the Britons questions described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and in the most overwhelming result (90 percent of respondents) dominated by big business.

Hey, and these people are our friends. Imagine what the people who don't like us think. (snortle)