Bush Doing Well In Survey... Next to Kim Jong-il and OBL

Britons wary of Bush more than Kim Jong-il: poll

LONDON (Reuters) – The United States is seen as a threat to world peace by its closest neighbors and allies, with Britons saying President George W. Bush poses a greater danger than North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, a survey found on Friday.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper said it carried out the survey along with Israel’s Haaretz, La Presse and Toronto Star in Canada and Mexico’s Reforma.

In Britain, which alongside Israel is traditionally a close Washington ally, 69 percent of those questioned said they felt U.S. policy had made the world less safe since 2001.

A majority of Canadians and Mexicans agreed, with 62 percent of those polled in Canada and 57 percent in Mexico saying their neighbor’s policy had made the world more dangerous.

As for Israel, just 25 percent of people asked said Bush had made the world safer, while 36 percent felt he had upped the risk of conflict and a further 30 percent said at best he had made no difference.

Israelis alone were in favor of Bush’s decision to invade Iraq …

Some 89 percent of Mexicans felt the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein was unjustified, as did 73 percent of Canadians and 71 percent of Britons, the survey said.

The perceived failings of U.S. foreign policy placed Bush alongside al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a cause of global anxiety, it said.