London (CNSNews.com) - Europeans love American pop culture but are more ambivalent when it comes to U.S. military might and foreign policy, according to the results of polls commissioned by the BBC.

What the World Thinks of America, broadcast Tuesday night, brought together politicians and writers from several countries, including the United States, to discuss the results of an 11-nation survey.

Worldwide, opinion favored American policy on stopping the spread of AIDS and international terrorism, but it opposed U.S. policy on poverty, global warming, nuclear proliferation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Included in the poll were Britain, the closest U.S. ally in the Iraq war; and France and Russia, two of the most staunchly anti-war countries.

Overall, respondents in both Britain and France said they supported U.S. policy against terror and the spread of AIDS. But the balance of opinion in both countries was against America in the other policy areas mentioned.

The Russians polled said they were against American policy in all of the areas questioned, although only 3 percent disapproved more than they approved of U.S. anti-terror measures.

In every country polled besides the United States, more people agreed than disagreed with the statement: "America is reaping the thorns planted by its rulers in the world" - a quote attributed to Saddam Hussein.

Seventy-six percent of French respondents said that their country was more cultured than the United States, and 78 percent of Britons said the same.

Alain de Chalvron of France Two television explained that France has a "love-hate" relationship with American culture and government.

"We do think we can like American on one hand and disagree with American policy on the other hand," de Chalvron said.

Since the Iraq war, French public opinion has markedly turned against American foreign policy. Two-thirds of French respondents said they trusted the United States before the war, de Chalvron said, while a similar number said they distrusted American policy afterwards.

Indeed, it was questions about the war in Iraq that showed up the major differences between the countries surveyed. Eighty-one percent of Russians said the U.S. was wrong to invade, as did 63 percent of French respondents.

But in Britain, 54 percent approved of the war along with 74 percent of Americans and 79 percent of Israelis.

Vladimir Pozner of Russia's Channel One said that the Cold War had "tainted the views of Russians" towards the United States.

"Most Russians say Americans live by the motto 'might makes right,'" he said.

The discussion was hosted by Andrew Marr, the BBC's political editor. In an article for Newsweek magazine on the poll, Marr said that "President George W. Bush has a terrible global image" but "it's also clear that many people have only the haziest idea of America."

Excluding American respondents, 60 percent worldwide said they had an unfavorable view of Bush.

"Americans, I conclude, need to think harder about how they want to be known in the rest of the world," Marr wrote.

After the debate, the chairman of Republican Abroad UK, Colleen Graffy, and Democrats Abroad UK leader Jamey Dumas squared off in a debate broadcast on the internet and cable television.

Dumas suggested that Americans should travel more and encourage more exchange programs with other countries, while Graffy responded: "We're the most cultural flexible society in the world."

One of the most contentious arguments came over the Iraq war.

"We're certain that we didn't do it in the right way," Dumas said. "We have started to handle Afghanistan in the right way. We don't have that kind of (international) support in Iraq ... if this poll would have been done a year ago, the respondents from Russian and France would have been much more positive."

Graffy contended that by initially trying the United Nations route, America had gained legitimacy for military action.

"What people need to think about is that the role of the U.N. Security Council is to sometimes use the threat of force or force in order to ensure peace and international stability," she said. "We all know that those weapons inspectors would not have been back in Iraq were it not for the threat of force by the United States."

In response to a question asked by a viewer, Dumas argued that President Bush had made several missteps after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I don't think Bush squandered everything, that would be too simple. I do think that he made mistakes, by saying, 'you're either for us or against us,'" he said. "That didn't help us find a better solution for fighting terrorism."

Graffy said that were it not for the United States, Europe would not even exist in its modern form, and that there was still widespread respect for U.S. power.

"The European Union was able to evolve because of the security through the military power of the United States," she said.

"One of the bottom lines of this poll is that there is not a coalition of nation-states rising up against America," Graffy said. "The fact remains America is seen as a benign power, a power that sometimes gets it wrong but is trying to do the right thing."

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