Author: Andrea Stone
Publication: USA Today
Date: February 27, 2002
A sweeping poll of attitudes in
the Islamic world shows that most Muslims don't believe Arabs carried out
the Sept. 11 attacks and disapprove of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan.
The Gallup Organization poll, released Tuesday, is the most comprehensive
survey of Muslim countries taken since Sept. 11. It confirms anecdotal
evidence of a huge gulf between the West and Muslim nations that existed
before the attacks and remains deep.
Although most Muslims condemn the
terrorist attacks that sparked the U.S. war in Afghanistan, the poll shows
a majority believe the campaign is morally unjustified and express a breathtaking
depth of anti-U.S. sentiment.
Respondents overwhelmingly describe
the United States as "ruthless, aggressive, conceited, arrogant, easily
provoked, biased," says Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport. "The people
of Islamic countries have significant grievances with the West in general
and with the United States in particular."
Gallup conducted in-person interviews
during December and January of 9,924 residents in nine Muslim countries:
Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
and Turkey. Key findings:
Although U.S. officials say all
19 of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Arab men, only 18% of those polled in
six Islamic countries say they believe Arabs carried out the attacks; 61%
say Arabs were not responsible; and 21% say they don't know.
Just 9% say they think U.S. military
action in Afghanistan is morally justified. The least supportive: people
in Morocco, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Two-thirds say the attacks on the
World Trade Center and Pentagon were morally unjustifiable, but significant
minorities disagree. In Kuwait, which U.S. troops liberated from Iraq in
1991, 36% say the attacks were justifiable, the highest percentage of any
country polled.
A slight majority, 53%, view the
United States unfavorably. Residents in Pakistan - a key U.S. ally in the
war on terrorism - Iran and Saudi Arabia are the most negative.
Muslims dislike President Bush;
58% view him unfavorably.
Only 12% say the West respects Arab
or Islamic values. Just 7% say Western nations are fair in their perceptions
of Muslim countries.
The key finding is "the strong feeling
of resentment that emanates that the United States doesn't care about them,"
says Shibley Telhami, a Middle East expert at the University of Maryland.
The poll results are not statistically
adjusted to reflect the populations of the countries surveyed. Margins
of sampling error range from 2 percentage points in Pakistan to 4 points
in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait.
The poll had about 120 questions,
but not all were asked in every country because of censorship. For instance,
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco did not allow the question about Arab
responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks.
