From the Times Online:
The War on Terror has radicalised Muslims around the world to unprecedented levels of anti-American feeling, according to the largest survey of Muslims ever to be conducted.
Seven per cent believe that the events of 9/11 were “completely justified”. In Saudi Arabia, 79 per cent had an “unfavourable view” of the US.
They liked us better when we just ignored things like bombing the USS Cole and our Embassy in Nairobi.
Gallup’s Centre for Muslim Studies in New York carried out surveys of 10,000 Muslims in ten predominantly Muslim countries. One finding was that the wealthier and better-educated the Muslim was, the more likely he was to be radicalised.
So, they don’t just turn to terrorism out of desperate poverty, because they have no other options? And what does that mean we should do about foreign aid and student visas?
The poll reveals internal contradictions:
While there was widespread support for Sharia, or Islamic law, only a minority wanted religious leaders to be making laws. Most women in the predominantly Muslim countries believed that Sharia should be the source of a nation’s laws, but they strongly believed in equal rights for women.
This finding indicates the complexity of the struggle ahead for Western understanding. Few Western commentators can see how women could embrace the veil, Sharia and equal rights at the same time.
Indeed.
“We find that Muslim radicals have more in common with their moderate brethren than is often assumed. If the West wants to reach the extremists, and empower the moderate majority, it must first recognise who it’s up against.”
Read the rest of it, especially if you want to know what John Esposito thinks. I imagine we will be hearing more about this as time goes on, as he and another Gallup pollster have a book coming out later this year.
And FYI, here is a Zogby poll of the Muslim world from 2004.