Poll: Canadians Name the Three Most Dangerous Men in the World

On the eve of the U.S. mid-term elections next week, this story from CITY-TV News certainly caught my attention - Bush, Bin Laden Among 'Most Dangerous' People, Canadians Believe:

What do George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden and Kim Jong-il have in common? They're among the individuals Canadians believe pose the greatest danger to the world.

According to the EKOS poll, the U.S. President ranks third when it comes to who respondents felt represented the biggest threat - with 34 per cent of Canadians naming him. Osama bin Laden was considered the most dangerous, followed by the North Korea leader....

The survey also found that not only do Canadians have a negative view of Bush, their opposition for the Iraq War has risen sharply in the past three years....

When asked in the recent poll, 73 per cent of Canadians said they thought the Bush administration had no reason for invading Iraq... The survey also found 62 per cent of Canadians think Bush has made the world less safe since 2001, when he was sworn in as president...

Similar sentiment is echoed in British believe Bush is more dangerous than Kim Jong-il, a report from the U.K.' s The Guardian:

Carried out as US voters prepare to go to the polls next week in an election dominated by the war, the research also shows that British voters see George Bush as a greater danger to world peace than either the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, or the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both countries were once cited by the US president as part of an "axis of evil", but it is Mr Bush who now alarms voters in countries with traditionally strong links to the US.

The survey has been carried out by the Guardian in Britain and leading newspapers in Israel (Haaretz), Canada (La Presse and Toronto Star) and Mexico (Reforma), using professional local opinion polling in each country.

It exposes high levels of distrust. In Britain, 69% of those questioned say they believe US policy has made the world less safe since 2001, with only 7% thinking action in Iraq and Afghanistan has increased global security.

... Mr Bush is ranked with some of his bitterest enemies as a cause of global anxiety. He is outranked by Osama bin Laden in all four countries, but runs the al-Qaida leader close in the eyes of UK voters: 87% think the al-Qaida leader is a great or moderate danger to peace, compared with 75% who think this of Mr Bush.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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