A Year After Iraq War: Mistrust of America in Europe Ever Higher, Muslim Anger Persists

This is the latest in a series of international surveys by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. It was conducted from late February to early March in nine nations (U.S., UK, Germany, France, Russia, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Pakistan).

"A year after the war in Iraq, discontent with America and its policies has intensified rather than diminished. Opinion of the United States in France and Germany is at least as negative now as at the war’s conclusion, and British views are decidedly more critical. Perceptions of American unilateralism remain widespread in European and Muslim nations, and the war in Iraq has undermined America’s credibility abroad. Doubts about the motives behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism abound, and a growing percentage of Europeans want foreign policy and security arrangements independent from the United States. Across Europe, there is considerable support for the European Union to become as powerful as the United States... In the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed, anger toward the United States remains pervasive, although the level of hatred has eased somewhat and support for the war on terrorism has inched up."