Bush responds to absurb Euro polls

Telegraph:

President George W Bush told Europeans yesterday it was "absurd" to regard the United States as the greatest threat to world peace, as he concluded an EU-US summit overshadowed by disputes on Guantanamo Bay and trans-Atlantic trade barriers.

A visibly annoyed Mr Bush was responding to a journalist's question about opinion polls, asking why most Europeans believe the United States is a greater menace than Iran or North Korea.

"It's absurd, is my statement," Mr Bush snapped, taking the microphone ahead of the president of the European Commission in his haste to answer the question. "We'll defend ourselves, but we are working with our partners to spread peace and democracy around the world."

...

Mr Bush was tackled a second time on the collapse in European public support for his administration by a Viennese journalist who reeled off statistics, including the fact that three quarters of Austrians regard the United States as a grave threat.

It was absurd to think America more dangerous than Iran, he repeated. "We are a transparent democracy, we debate things in the open," he said.

Citing record US funding for Aids victims in Africa, Mr Bush said his foreign policy was "tough when it has to be, but on the other hand it's compassionate".

...

The polls reflect a public that is deeply misinformed and out of touch with reality. It is absolute fantasy to suggest that the US is more dangerous than the Iranian religous bigots who want to wipe Israel off the map or country like North Korea that is ruled by a genocidal despot. Are Austrians really that misinformed and ignorant? Apparently so.