Muslim World Reveals Fear of US

FT.com ^ | 6/2/2003 | James Politi

[ex-Texan]

Muslim World Reveals Fear of US

In the year that the US has fought terrorism, toppled a Middle Eastern dictatorship and launched a peace initiative between Israelis and Palestinians, its standing in the Muslim world has collapsed.

A survey published on Tuesday by the Pew Global Attitudes Project also suggests the Iraq war has widened the rift between Americans and western Europeans and softened international support for the war on terrorism.

"The bottom has fallen out of support for America in most of the Muslim world," reports the Washington-based organisation after an extensive survey last month of international public opinion.

As President George W. Bush sat down with Arab leaders on Tuesday, the polls in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan revealed only 1 per cent of the population holds favourable views of the US.

Negative perceptions of America pervade the rest of the Arab world, excluding Kuwait, and have, in the past year, spread to countries outside the Middle East with sizeable Muslim populations, such as Indonesia and Nigeria. However, the displeasure is mostly directed at Mr Bush and his policies rather than Americans in general, or American political values. In fact, a majority of Jordanians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Nigerians, Moroccans and Pakistanis believe that "western-style democracy" could work well in their countries.

The survey suggests many Muslims feel threatened by the US and are concerned that it may attack their country. In Pakistan, whose government supports Mr Bush's "war on terrorism", 73 per cent of the population are "very" or "somewhat" worried about a potential military threat from the US.

In contrast to Mr Bush, Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, won significant backing as the leader most capable of "doing the right thing regarding world affairs". In the Palestinian Authority, Mr bin Laden topped the poll with 71 per cent saying they had "a lot" or "some" confidence in him. Yassir Arafat, president of the PA, who has been marginalised by the US administration, came second with 69 per cent. In Jordan, Morocco and Pakistan Mr bin Laden was ranked second.

[ex-Texan]

Good !!!

The more they fear the U.S. the more they will obey their instincts for survival. The OBL and Yssir Arafat crapola is beginning to wear pretty thin.

[wimpycat]

The survey suggests many Muslims feel threatened by the US and are concerned that it may attack their country. In Pakistan, whose government supports Mr Bush's "war on terrorism", 73 per cent of the population are "very" or "somewhat" worried about a potential military threat from the US.

As they damn well should feel.

[Russell Scott]

The Pew people are a bunch of socialist-globalist-godless fools.

[tet68]

Ask me if I Care.
Hey, muslims, want to see the concern in my eye? (pulling down lower lid !)

Maybe the should do a survey of Americans and find out if trust in Muslims has gone down since 911.

[tsmith130]

Be afraid...be very, very afraid.

[Bringbackthedraft]

"A survey published on Tuesday by the Pew Global Attitudes Project" OK!, financed by who??

[rickmichaels]

...the polls in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan revealed only 1 per cent of the population holds favourable views of the US.

"Those grapes were sour anyway," said the fox.

[cavtrooper21]

The Muslim world has never "respected" us, so its fine by me if they fear us.

[Let's Roll]

Yeah, well they aren't afraid enough, are they?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For another side to this , check here:

Commentary: Hoping Americans stay forever

[doug from upland]

Oh, I guess the Euroweasels are going to go soft on terrorism, huh. As if they are not targets. As if Islamists don't want them dead. Dubya learned it a long time ago -- you negotiate from a position of strength. We have a commander in chief who gets it. I rembember when Reagan put missiles in Europe. What did the Soviet Union do? Hint: they didn't start WWIII. Great lessons are never learned by leftist fools. When you're born dumb, you stay that way a long time.

[joesnuffy]

Muslims are a warrior cult as such...

Conquest of people for the sake of "conversion" (converting your goods and your women & your children to themselves notwithstanding) is the path they are on...

Strength through superior firepower is all they understand..

If you want peace with them you must be able to severley kick their collective azzes
and be willing to do just that from time to time..

Once they get it through their thick skulls that they will die if they refuse to live in peace
and once a suffienct number of them have...

then you can get peace outta them..maybe

If they sense (smell) any vacillation or sense any opening or any weakness to exploit ..
they will...

They are very simple people to deal with..as long as you dont give them free access to your society or try to meld their culture into yours...and keep them at arms (double meaning) length..

Treat them with fairness and with firmness
imo

[Pontiac]

a majority of Jordanians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Nigerians, Moroccans and Pakistanis believe that "western-style democracy" could work well in their countries.

Just as soon as we kill all of the Mullahs, Hezbulha, and Fatah members

[Mr. Lucky]

For being in a warrior cult, they're sure not very good at it.

[Redcloak]

Boo!

[dennisw]

They should fear what we'll do to Mecca/Medina/holy sites if their Jihadist "bruddahs" stage a mega-terror attack on US soil.

[Pro-Bush]

[Radix]

Excellent!

We should now tear Yassir a new one, and his replacement will hopefully be qualified to lick the boots of any American. Arafat is a pig, and it is (IMHO)incredible that any American Administration has ever given that murderous bastard the time of the day!

It is time put to our American foot up the ass of any group that would try to inflict terror upon us in our own back yard. Some of these maniacs do it do it overtly, and others obliquely. The left will never understand that concept, and so they will continue to marginalize themselves into obscurity. It seems to me to be a fact that ordinary Americans do "get it."

I am not counting on that, because the media is very influential among the dumb ones. We might be not able to re-educate a few who can make a difference, however, we need to try.

Meanwhile, in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places where people have been under the heel of terrible despots and dictators we should try to show them just what the American way is. We may fail, but we could succeed. If we are successful then they will love us for it, and that is no BS.

[EvilOverlord]

Strength through superior firepower is all they understand..

Did you read the article about the Moros that was posted here a few weeks back? The muslims are not a simple people to deal with, and they don't respect superior firepower.

In the Phillipines, the US to muslim kill ratio was hundreds to 1, as it was in both gulf wars. Yet they kept coming again and again, using stupid tactics, until they were all dead. At least until the US decided they'd had enough of killing muslims and moved out.

They do not respect superior firepower. They only stop trying to kill you when you kill them.

They won't try to live in peace until we've completely crushed them and imposed a new culture.

I'm not trying to refute your points, just to intensify them.

[desertcry]

Nothing has change, the islamists (all of islam) have always hated the USA. Remember the reaction of moslems throughout the world after 9.11.03? Islam hates the USA because it is the symbol of Christian power. No other reason needs to be invoked to explain islam's hate for the USA.

[Ichneumon]

As President George W. Bush sat down with Arab leaders on Tuesday, the polls in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan revealed only 1 per cent of the population holds favourable views of the US.

Never believe *any* poll that shows a 99/1% split on anything. Human beings quite simply are never that unified on anything.

[SauronOfMordor]

They won't try to live in peace until we've completely crushed them and imposed a new culture.

I'm not sure if 21st Century America has the stomach for "completely crushing" them. The US of the 1800's would have treated the Islamic world the same way they treated the Indians, but the US is different now.

We get a few more terrorist attacks, though, and the US may start to revert to its roots...

[Monty22]

Bush needs to make a Kennedy-esque speech like during the Cuban missile crisis..

Any further attacks, especially WMD, on the USA will be seen as an attack by the islamic world and will result in a large scale nuclear response.

Anything less keeps us in constant danger.

[prairiebreeze]

Maybe the should do a survey of Americans and find out if trust in Muslims has gone down since 911.

My first thought exactly!

Prairie

[stubernx98]

There was an excellent article posted here about 2 - 3 months ago describing how large percentage(maybe up to 20%) of Muslims operated on a fantasy basis. The author went to great lengths to develop his thesis. Made sense to me. In summary, they were born and raised in La La land, and they will die there too. No amount of reason will convert them. Either we, or the rational Muslims will have to take em' out.

BTW, fantasy land is not confined to Muslims, we got plenty in this country too. You know - - Democrats.

[Arpege92]

These wascle wabbits don't worry me!

[Arpege92]

These wascle wabbits don't worry me!

[muir_redwoods]

It would be great to have their love and admiration but I'll settle for boot-quaking fear.

[Timmy]

Peter Jennings breathlessly announced this poll results tonite, except that he inexplicably left out the stuff about OBL and Arafat. Must have been an oversight . . .

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Not without reason, do they fear. Be afraid, be very afraid!

[Go Gordon]

Never believe *any* poll that shows a 99/1% split on anything. Human beings quite simply are never that unified on anything.

Ever ask Met fans if they hate the Yankees?

[Jorge]

"The bottom has fallen out of support for America in most of the Muslim world," reports the Washington-based organisation after an extensive survey last month of international public opinion.

Well I wonder why so many Arab nations supported the war on Iraq and many assisted the coalition?

Even some prominent Muslims publically expressed support for Bush and removing Saddam from power.

I don't believe half of these polls..especially when they are so obvious in their attempt to support liberal claims that the war in Iraq would be BAD for the war on terrorism.

[McGavin999]

its standing in the Muslim world has collapsed.

LOL, who cares? These are the same people who were screaming "Death to America" at the top of their lungs before the war. Collapsed? Get real.

The problem with the constant stream of hate coming from all directions is eventually, you cease to care.

[RobbyS]

The United States is hated because it has exposed the Arab superior self-image as a delusion. Confronted with the coalition forces, the greatest Muslim army in the world threw down its arms and ran away.

[zip]

The survey suggests many Muslims feel threatened by the US and are concerned that it may attack their country

OR - ...many murderers feel threatened by Law enforcement officers and are concerned that they may arrest their sorry @$$es.

I sincerely hope that these "peaceful religious types" now understand that we are not going to wait around for them to kill us and that we will take appropriate action.

THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH for standing tall for America.

[republicman]

The bottom has fallen out of support for America in most of the Muslim world,"

Gosh that's really too bad they loved us so much before. </ sar-frigging-casm >

[templar]

They have nothing to fear as long as they do what they are told.

[republicman]

I would rather be feared by evil than liked by it.

[I still care]

In International relations, I think fear is much more important than love.

[Ready4Freddy]

"Human beings quite simply are never that unified on anything."

So.... what's you're point? Why can't mooslems be that unified?

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

"A survey published on Tuesday by the Pew Global Attitudes Project" OK!, financed by who??

The Pew Research Center for the People and The Press, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a foundation created by the heirs of the Sun Oil Co. fortune. Typical of such foundations, PCT has drifted leftward in the decades since its founding.

[desertcry]

I'm sure what you said added fuel to the fire, but their hatred was intense enough to kill more than 3000 Americans and other nationals prior to the Iraq war. I just hope that the muslims wake up from their stupor of hate before the USA loses patience with them.

[hobson]

John Gibson interviewed a woman reporter from Lebenon who basically said this poll does not mean anything. She said everyone is waiting to see how Bush handles the Road Map.

[F16Fighter]

MEMO TO ISLAM:

Grrrrr....

[PoisedWoman]

They always hated us. Now at least they consciously fear us. Good news. They know they'd better shape up or else.

It would be swell if they loved us and we all got along. But truth is, Muslims and Arabs hate everyone, even each other, and have been slitting one another's throats for centuries. The only thing that has ever held them in check is strong leadership and dire consequences.

If they fear us, they'll respect us. I think that's as good as it possibly can get.

[Publius6961]

Fear is good...

Makes another repeat of 911 less likely, and the consequences, if it should repeat, a lot worse.

[Monty22]

So far, they don't have the delivery or weapons to do a retalitory strike. I think with a massive ACLM B2 strategic attacks, or D5 Tridents, we could wipe them out and that's it.

The fallout won't be fun, but it's what has to happen. I hope Rummy has a warplan setup for this.

[Malsua]

So, Islamofascists aren't happy with America.

Damn. That sucks.....................for them.

[Libertina]

the polls in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan revealed only 1 per cent of the population holds favourable views of the US.
ingrates