From the Stop the Presses Department via AP, with thanks to OBL r Us:
NEW YORK – Anti-American feelings are widespread in the Muslim world and extend to U.S. consumer brands, according to a report released Wednesday. It suggested the U.S. burnish its image with a change in tone and by publicizing aid programs.
The United States should emphasize its development aid to Muslim countries rather than try to persuade Muslims to support U.S. policies in Iraq or in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Council on Foreign Relations report.
The report, by Charney Research, is based on 14 focus groups conducted last December and January among college-educated men and women in Egypt, Morocco and Indonesia.
Anger at U.S. foreign policy and at the U.S. government dominated spontaneous reactions in all three countries.
And here’s a Tiny Minority of Extremists Update:
Many young Muslims said they admired Osama bin Laden, while views of President Bush were uniformly negative. All focus group members rejected U.S. views of the war in Iraq, saying the United States invaded on a false premise to further its own regional goals.
Anti-Semitic stereotypes also were noted. Focus group members saw the United States and Israel as synonymous and estimated the proportion of Jews in the U.S. population at up to 85 percent; it is 2 percent.
It’s a shame that this report recommends that the US “should emphasize its development aid to Muslim countries.” The idea that that will help anything is based on a fallacy and an erroneous understanding of the jihad ideology.