Hang Right Politics

Posted by Kathy on June 23rd, 2006 in GWOT, Terrorism

Want to know what Muslim’s think of us? I know you think I’m having a blonde moment, but there really is a poll out there and here are some of the results:

For the second year running, the survey suggests there is increasing opposition among Muslim populations to violence targeting civilians in the name of Islam. Some 71 percent of polled Muslim Indonesians said such violence is never justified, compared with 66 percent last year; in Pakistan, the figure was 69 percent, up from 46 percent. Jordan has seen the steepest rise in the proportion of people opposed to extremist violence, up from 11 percent last year to 46 percent. Osama bin Laden’s standing also continued to decline since polling last year, most significantly in Jordan, followed by Pakistan.

But “a sizeable number of adherents,” particularly among sampled Nigerian Muslims, still believe that violence against civilians is justifiable in defense of Islam, the survey indicated.

The poll attributes the trend against violence to Muslim countries’ experiences with terrorism, including a triple suicide bombing in Amman, Jordan, in November that killed 60 people.

{EDITOR’S NOTE: Oh my, it is worse when it happens to you, isn’t it? Generous people, these.}

Moreover, with the exception of Turkey (at 39 percent), more than half of the Westerners and Muslims interviewed expressed concern over the global rise of Islamic extremism.

There is, however, no obvious correlation between diminishing support for terrorism and more positive perceptions of the West. Muslims in 4 out of 5 Muslim majority countries said Westerners are not “respectful of women.” Muslims also blame Western policies for their countries’ lack of economic prosperity.

Publics in Western countries blame Muslim countries for what they perceive to be government corruption, lack of education, and Islamic fundamentalism.

But “nothing highlights the divide between Muslims and the West more clearly,” the survey suggested, than clashing views over the controversy about cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. First published in September in a Danish newspaper , they provoked riots and protests throughout the Muslim world.

Depending on the country, more than half to two-thirds of the Westerners surveyed blame the controversy on Muslim intolerance, while more than two-thirds of the Muslims questioned blame Western disrespect.

Moreover, solid majorities of Muslims living in Muslim countries and in Britain said they did not believe that Arabs carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the United States.

“It’s one of the finds that makes you realize that deep emotional feelings get in the way of facts,” Kohut said.

Muslims in Spain, Germany, and France, which was the scene of riots in predominantly North African and Muslim suburbs last fall, are more inclined than Muslims elsewhere, including Britain, to view non-Muslim Westerners as tolerant, generous, and respectful of women, the survey indicated.

Speaking as a female, I can do without Muslim ‘respect’ since it apparently means subjugation, burkas, and being treated as chattel. Such forms of respect, women can do without. They respect women so much they aren’t given any rights. Why do I hear The Princess Bride? “You keep using that word but I do not think it means what you think it means.”

As to the results in Nigeria, if they think terrorism is still their best option, we need to look more closely at that country.

The followup question to those who don’t believe 9/11 was perpetrated by Arabs: Who then was Mohammad Atta, etc? And who did do it?

But perhaps the most disturbing thing in that article is how they blame the West for their own failings. Propaganda has been effective in those countries. The leaders of those countries have successfully deflected the responsibility for properly leading their countries. Sheiks line their pockets, and the impoverished populace suffers while being bombarded with Western blame.

Here is the root of terrorism. They blame us for propping up their oppressors? Or is it jealousy? Either way it is a belief system founded on a lack of personal responsibility. Can we instill into their culture the idea that they alone are responsible for their own fates? Until we do, we are vulnerable to more than the Miami Seven.

The Washington Wire has more.