[Guardian (UK) - 2/27/02] Two thirds of people in Islamic countries believe the western world lied about the identities of the September 11 hijackers, although most considered the attacks unjustifiable, according to a wide-ranging poll of Arab countries.
To gauge Arab opinion, the Gallup organisation conducted interviews with almost 10,000 people in nine Islamic countries during December and January. The found that just over half of the people surveyed in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan and Morocco had a poor opinion of the United States and of the US president, George Bush.
The poll found that although 67% of people believed the September 11 attacks were morally unjustifiable, 61% did not believe western news reports that Arabs had been the hijackers.
USA Today quoted Gallup's editor-in-chief, Frank Newport, as saying respondents found the US "ruthless, aggressive, conceited, arrogant, easily provoked, biased. The people of Islamic countries have significant grievances with the west in general and with the United States in particular."
Perhaps less surprising is a decided lack of support among Muslims for military action in Afghanistan. Only 9% of those surveyed agreed with US and British actions there.
CNN reported that those polled found American values materialist and secular and believed American culture was a corrupting influence on their societies.
Gallup, which funded and designed the study, said it had gone ahead because "accurate information about how Muslims abroad view the west has previously not been available".
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
[posted 2/27/02]
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