The Iraq Crisis: What Does the World Think About the Diplomatic Wrangling at the UN?

As key members of the UN Security Council continue to grapple over whether to use military force against Iraq, tensions among Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States are heightening. What does the rest of the world think? How will the Bush administration’s position on Iraq affect its future relations with other countries?

At this press briefing, a panel of experts discussed the diplomatic wrangling and how recent developments are being perceived by some of the key regions of the world. Arturo Valenzuela discussed Latin America, Susan Rice discussed Africa, Clifford Gaddy addressed Russia and Eurasia, Philip Gordon discussed France, and Shibley Telhami discussed the Arab world.

At the briefing, Telhami, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings and an expert on the Arab world, released his new study of Arab attitudes toward U.S. engagement in Iraq. Completed in March, the survey polled the public in six countries—Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, and Egypt—about their attitudes toward a number of issues, including U.S. policy on Iraq, their expectation for the Middle East after war with Iraq, and which world leaders they most admired.