IP: Loosing the world wide PR war

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> ate: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 09:31:04 -0500
> To: farber () cis upenn edu (David Farber)
> From: Richard Jay Solomon <rsolomon () dsl cis upenn edu>
> Subject: WP:War Support Ebbs Worldwide
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51068-2001Nov6.html
> > War Support Ebbs Worldwide
> > Sept. 11 Doesn't Justify Bombing, Many Say
>
>
>
> > By Kevin Sullivan
> > Washington Post Foreign Service
> > Wednesday, November 7, 2001; Page A01
> >
> >
> > MEXICO CITY -- It was a traditional altar for Mexico's Day of the Dead 
> > observance, filled with flowers, candles and sweet bread laid out for 
> > departed loved ones. Except this one also featured bagels and photos of 
> > New York, and it sat next to the U.S. Embassy here as a show of 
> > solidarity with the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
> >
> > Mexicans who showed up to inaugurate the display made clear their 
> > sympathy for the dead in the United States. But they also made clear that 
> > sympathy did not necessarily translate into support for the U.S. war in 
> > Afghanistan. "I think the government of President Bush has gone too far; 
> > the war frightens me," said Guadalupe Loaeza, a columnist and social 
> > commentator who helped organize the altar display.
> >
> > Such views seem to be increasingly widespread around the world. The 
> > initial outburst of solidarity after Sept. 11 has frayed considerably as 
> > U.S. warplanes bomb Afghanistan relentlessly for the fifth week running. 
> > This is true not only in Arab and other Muslim countries, where the U.S. 
> > military campaign has provoked popular outrage, but in other countries 
> > where people feel less of a direct connection to the events.
> >
> > In opinion polls and interviews in several countries in Africa, Asia, 
> > Latin America and Europe, many people who said they were horrified by the 
> > Sept. 11 attacks added that the horror then does not justify the bombing 
> > of Afghanistan now -- even if their governments continue to back the U.S. 
> > campaign. In a war that Bush has described as a battle between good and 
> > evil, many said it is not so simple.
> >
> > A poll taken this week for France 3 television and France Info radio, for 
> > instance, showed support among the French for the U.S. military campaign 
> > has dropped to 51 percent, down from 66 percent shortly after the bombing 
> > began Oct. 7. Support also has declined in Germany, where polls show more 
> > than 65 percent of respondents now want the U.S. attacks to end, and in 
> > Spain, where a poll for Cadena SER radio showed 69 percent of those 
> > surveyed want the bombing to stop.
> >
> > Even in Britain, where Prime Minister Tony Blair has become a cheerleader 
> > for the U.S. campaign, popular support for the bombing has begun to slip, 
> > sinking from 74 percent soon after the attacks in Afghanistan began to 62 
> > percent in a poll conducted last week.

<snip>



For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/