The war on terrorism has radicalised Muslims around the world to unprecedented levels of anti-US feeling, according to the largest survey of Muslims ever to be conducted, The Times reported on Wednesday.
| Is there anything that doesn't radicalize the Muslims? |
According to the survey, seven percent believe that the events of 9/11 were “completely justified”. 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.
| Is that a surprise? Binny, Zawahiri, et al., were all wealthy or middle class men in their countries. Most al-Q leaders were very well educated. They had the time to become radicalized rather than just try to scratch out a living. |
The surveys were carried out in 2005 and 2006. Along with an earlier Gallup survey in nine other countries in 2001, they represent the views of a few of the more than 90 percent of the worldÂ’s Muslims. A further 1,500 Muslims in London, Paris and Berlin are involved in a separate poll to be published in April.
| Golly gosh, can't wait to see how radicalized they are. |
The findings come in a climate of growing mistrust between Islam and the West. Another recent survey in the US found that 39 per cent of Americans felt some prejudice towards Muslims.
| Growing mistrust, as opposed to the mistrust between Muslims and the West in 800, 1098, 1453, 1921 or 1967? |
The Gallup findings indicate that, in terms of spiritual values and the emphasis on the family and the future, Americans have more in common with Muslims than they do with their Western counterparts in Europe.
A large number of Muslims supported the Western ideal of democratic government. Fifty percent of radicals supported democracy, compared with 35 percent of moderates.
| Democracy means something a little different to them ... |
Religion was found to have little to do with radicalisation or antipathy towards Western culture. Muslims were condemnatory of promiscuity and a sense of moral decay. What they admired most was liberty, its democratic system, technology and freedom of speech. While there was widespread support for Sharia, 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 nationÂ’s laws, but they strongly believed in equal rights for women.
| And since the two are completely incompatible, and the men favor mostly Sharia, guess which one wins. |
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.
| I confess they got me on that one ... |
Researchers set out to examine the truth behind the stock response in the West to the question of when it will know it is winning the war on terror. Foreign policy experts tend to believe that victory will come when the Islamic world rejects radicalism. “Every politician has a theory: radicals are religious fundamentalists; they are poor; they are full of hopeless-ness and hate. But those theories are wrong,” the researchers reported.
| That's right. The radicals are men with vision, a fair bit of intelligence, a lot of cunning, and the means to pursue their vision. Far from being filled with hopelessness, they're filled with hope that they can bring about a new caliphate. They hate infidels because Allan has told them to, because infidels are keeping them from what the Qur'an says is rightfully theirs, and because infidels are so damned successful -- and they, the true believers, are not. The hate isn't personal, it's strictly business. |
Percentage with unfavourable view of US in 2005 (all increased since 9/11 except where indicated: Saudi Arabia 79 percent, Jordan 65 percent, Morocco 49 percent, Iran 52 percent (down from 63 percent in 2001), and Pakistan 65 percent (down from 69 percent in 2001).
| And if they keep pissing us off, just watch our response and the subsequent poll values on how they hate us for it. |
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