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Published on Thursday, December 20, 2001 by Agence France Presse |
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Global Poll: US Policies Played
"Significant Role" in Terror Attacks
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| Opinion-makers strongly support the
US-led war on terrorism but oppose spreading the action beyond Afghanistan
and feel Washington's policies contributed to the September 11 terrorist
attacks, according to a survey in 24 countries.
The poll of 275 opinion leaders, published in the Paris-based International Herald Tribune Thursday, showed a majority of non-US respondents felt US policies had played a significant role in fueling terrorists' anger against the United States. The poll findings suggest "that much of the world views the attacks as a symptom of increasingly bitter polarization between haves and have-nots," the paper said. "The danger for America is that its overwhelming power is feeding resentment, in the same countries that also feel they are missing out on the spoils of economic progress." While around six out of ten non-Americans believed Washington was doing the right thing in fighting terrorism, that support tumbled when the question of possible US-led attacks on Iraq, Somalia or elsewhere was raised. While 50 percent of the Americans polled said the military action should be broadened to the regimes supporting terrorism, only 29 percent outside the US agreed. Asked if many or most people would consider US policies to be "a major cause" of the September 11 attacks, 58 percent of the non-US respondents said they did, compared to just 18 percent of Americans. The poll, conducted by the paper and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, highlighted a large gap between the way Americans believe they are seen abroad and the way others say they see the United States. Samuel Wells, associate director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was quoted as saying Americans were relatively unaware of how many Muslims "were terribly upset at the carry-over from the Gulf War," including the continued US military presence in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf. Not one American respondent believed the US attacks on Afghanistan would be widely considered as an overreaction, while over 40 percent of non-Americans, and 63 percent in Islamic countries, did. Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew center, noted as particularly striking the finding that two-thirds or more of respondents in every region outside the United States said it was "good that Americans now know what it's like to be vulnerable". A total of 52 percent of respondents said the world's wealthiest country does far too little to help the least-advantaged, citing that as a major cause for dislike of the United States. The paper said the pollsters had interviewed between November 12 and December 13, "275 influential people" in politics, media, business, culture and government; 40 in the United States and 235 in 23 other countries. Copyright © 2001 AFP ### |
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