HOW MUCH HATE?
The Gallup organization has finished a far-reaching poll of Muslim attitudes toward the West and found the distrust runs deep. Here are a few excerpts from the USA Today story:

"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."

"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."

The story ends with this kicker:

"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."

Gallup pollsters talked to nearly 10,000 people in December and January in Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. There are other stories at Reuters and BBC, which has a separate graphic.

At Half-empty.org there's a beefy post comparing the American-centric CNN.comversion of this story to one in ArabNews.com, which focuses more on how Muslim opinion is finally being acknowledged by the United States since Sept. 11.
- posted by Amy @ 2/27/2002 11:43:00 AM