In light of mini flame wars of my forum, I thought it germaine to post the analysis of a recent worldwide survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. Read the whole article to the end. Interesting...
- Bill
Posted 7/14/2005 11:29 PM
Muslim support of suicide bombing wanes
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Support for suicide bombings has dropped significantly in several predominantly Muslim nations, a worldwide public-opinion survey has found — a positive note at a time concerns have been heightened by terrorist attacks in London, Iraq and Israel.
The report by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, released Thursday, also found substantial concern about Islamic extremism not only among Westerners but also in Muslim nations. Three-quarters of those in Morocco and roughly half of those in Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia said Islamic extremism posed a threat to their countries.
A chasm continues to exist between the Muslim world and the West in attitudes toward the appropriate role of Islam in government and the roots of Islamic radicalism. But the survey showed ebbing support among Muslims for the terrorism that has defined global relations since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington nearly four years ago.
One possible reason: Some of the countries involved — Morocco, Indonesia and Turkey — have suffered devastating attacks on civilians within their borders, and Lebanon has been hit by political assassinations.
The findings are "good news because it means attitudes can change," says Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "But we have to put this in perspective. There still are very large percentages of people in the Muslim world who support suicide bombings ... and say they have a high regard for Osama bin Laden."
More than 17,000 people in 17 nations were interviewed from April to June for the survey, the sixth multination poll by the non-partisan group since 2002. Some results were released last month.
Among the new findings:
• Support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence in defense of Islam has dropped since 2002 by 34 percentage points in Lebanon, 12 points in Indonesia and 8 points in Pakistan. The exception to the trend is Jordan, where support increased by 14 points, to 57%.
There are higher levels of support for suicide bombings that target Americans and their allies in Iraq, though they also have dropped. About half of Muslims in Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco said those attacks were justified.
• Confidence in bin Laden has fallen by double-digit margins in Indonesia, Morocco and Lebanon since 2003. In Lebanon, only 2% now express confidence in him.
The al-Qaeda leader is viewed most positively in Jordan and Pakistan, where more than half say they have confidence in him.
• Most Muslims believe Islam is playing a larger role in their national politics and see that as a positive development.
In nine Western nations polled, fears about radical Islam were tied to perceptions of Muslim communities within those countries. Resident Muslims were seen as having a strong and growing sense of Islamic identity, a situation most of those surveyed saw as a bad thing.
Even so, in the United States and most Western nations majorities said they had favorable views of Muslims. Those in predominantly Muslim countries had mixed views of Christians and very negative views of Jews.