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>America's Views Of Causes >Of 911 Sharply At Odds >With World >By Charles R. Smith >12-20-1 > >WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American opinion makers differ sharply with >foreign colleagues over whether U.S. policies were a major cause of >the Sept. 11 attacks, with a majority of non-Americans believing >such policies were responsible, a major opinion poll said on >Wednesday. > >The Pew Global Attitudes Project poll found that only 18 percent of >American respondents believed U.S. policies brought on the attacks, >while 58 of non-Americans believed they were responsible. > >The poll question did not specify which ``policies'' were involved. > >It also found sharp differences between the two groups on whether >the war on global terrorism in Afghanistan should be expanded to >Iraq and Somalia. Half of American respondents urged the action, >while only 29 percent of non-Americans supported expansion. > >The wide ranging poll questioned 40 Americans and 10 people in each >of 23 other nations from Nov. 12 to Dec. 13. The respondents were >described as ``political, media, cultural, business and government >leaders.'' > >The poll was conducted in association with the International Herald >Tribune newspaper. > >In another stark contrast of attitudes, 70 percent of Americans >believed U.S. support for Israel was a reason why Americans were >disliked, but only 29 percent of non-Americans shared that view. > >The poll said even in Muslim nations only 57 percent of respondents >judged U.S. support for the Jewish state as a reason for disliking >the United States. > >However, 73 percent of non-Americans felt the United States was too >supportive of Israel while only 35 percent of Americans believed >there was too much support. > >There was almost unanimous agreement between both American and >non-American respondents that recent events had not significantly >slowed the pace of globalization. > >The poll said 10 percent of Americans believed globalization was a >``major cause'' of terrorism while 35 percent said it was a ``minor >cause.'' Among non-Americans, 19 percent judged globalization as a >major cause and 41 percent as a minor cause. > >``The spread of American culture through movies, TV and music is at >most a minor reason for animosity toward the U.S., according to >foreign influentials (opinion makers),'' said a statement issued >with the poll. >___ > >How The World Sees The US And September 11 > >By Brian Knowlton >International Herald Tribune >12-20-1 > >WASHINGTON World opinion leaders give strong support in principle to >the U.S.-led war on terrorism, but they oppose attacks on countries >beyond Afghanistan and say the campaign is yet another example of >what they view as America's troubling tendency to act unilaterally, >according to a new survey in 24 countries. > >The poll of 275 opinion leaders, conducted by the International >Herald Tribune and the Pew Research Center for the People and the >Press, reveals disagreements between America and other countries on >whether U.S. policies played a significant role in fueling >terrorists' anger against the United States. > >Asked if many or most ordinary people consider U.S. policies to be >"a major cause" of the Sept. 11 attacks, fewer than 1 in 5 >respondents from America said they do. But in the rest of the world, >nearly 3 out of 5 agreed that they would. > >The survey also highlights anew a large gap between the way >Americans believe they are seen abroad and the way others see the >United States. While not a single American respondent believed the >U.S. attacks on Afghanistan would be widely considered as an >overreaction, about 4 in 10 non-Americans saw them as such, >including 6 in 10 in Islamic countries. > >Andrew Kohut, director of the non-profit Pew center, noted as >particularly striking the finding that two-thirds or more of >respondents outside the United States said it was "good that >Americans now know what it's like to be vulnerable." > >Madeleine Albright, the former U.S. secretary of state, said that >result was "clearly the most disturbing part of this" but observed >that such a response may be an unavoidable side-effect of the end of >the Cold War. "It was very different when you had two superpowers, >and observers could divide their animosity between one or the >other," Mrs. Albright said. She suggested that it is human for >people now to focus their resentment on "the big guy on the block." > >The polling revealed a strong sense around the world that the events >of Sept. 11 had opened a new chapter in world history, that nothing >would again be the same. > >It found strong support for the U.S. war on terrorism, when the >fight was described in broad terms. About 6 in 10 of non- Americans >said that most or many ordinary people believed that "the U.S. is >doing the right thing for the world by fighting terrorism." Support >rose to 9 in 10 in Western Europe. > >But support tumbled when respondents were asked whether the United >States and its allies should attack countries like Iraq and Somalia >if they are found to have supported terrorism. While half of >American respondents said those countries should be attacked in that >case, the comparable figure was less than 3 in 10 outside the U.S. > >Among Americans, 7 in 10 believed that the United States is taking >into account its partners' interests in the fight against terrorism. >But among those surveyed abroad more than 6 in 10 said instead that >the United States was "acting mainly on its own interests." > >The results were based on telephone interviews conducted from Nov. >12 to Dec. 13 under the direction of Princeton Survey Research >Associates with 275 influential people in politics, media, business, >culture and government. > >The samples were developed by researcher organizations in each of >the 24 countries surveyed, and evaluated and approved by the >Princeton survey group. > >Americans in the survey said that President George W. Bush had been >fully justified in launching the global war on terrorism after the >terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and they also spoke with enormous >confidence of the U.S. capacity to prevail in Afghanistan. > >Nearly all of the interviews were completed after the Afghan >capital, Kabul, had fallen and left the ruling Taliban militia in >full retreat. > >The poll revealed mostly favorable opinions of the United States, >when the question was put broadly. > >In Europe, Latin America and Asia, 60 to 80 percent of interviewees >said that people had very favorable or mostly favorable opinions of >the United States. > >In the Middle East and the Islamic world as a whole, the numbers >fell to around 5 in 10. > >But the findings again underscored the divide between Americans' >idea of their image and role in the world, and the way the world >says it views them. > >Americans believed overwhelmingly that resentment of their country's >overarching power is the chief reason they are disliked. Nine in 10 >listed that factor first. > >They saw U.S. support of Israel as the second leading factor, with 7 >in 10 naming it. > >Yet, barely more than half of non-Americans listed resentment of >U.S. power as a major reason for disliking the country, and only 3 >in 10 cited U.S. support of Israel. > >Far more salient, in non-American eyes, was the sense that the >United States bears some responsibility for the gap between the >world's rich and poor, and that the world's wealthiest country does >too little to help the least-advantaged. > >Six in 10 respondents in both Western Europe and the Middle East >called that a major cause for dislike of the United States. > >Americans saw that as a problem, but less so: Only 4 in 10 listed it. > >"There's a big gap in this issue of whether we Americans are >contributing to the economic polarization of the planet," Mr. Kohut >said. "We see ourselves as doing good works, and working on behalf >of global issues, and the rest of the world doesn't see it that way." > >Mrs. Albright said, "There's a sense that we have all these >things-wealth, opportunity, technological prowess-but we basically >don't share." > >Asked the major reasons people like the United States, Americans >themselves were more likely than others to cite American democratic >ideals, U.S. good works around the world, and the opportunities >offered by the country. > >Non-Americans were more than twice as likely as Americans to say >that U.S. scientific and technological innovation were key reasons >to like the United States. > >Broad approval of the United States concealed many areas of >criticism and discontent with the United States. There was a far >greater tendency abroad to find that U.S. policy had contributed to >the country's problems with terrorism. > >Trying to explain the gap, Samuel Wells, associate director of the >Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that >Americans were relatively unaware of how many Muslims "were terribly >upset at the carryover from the Gulf War," including the continued >U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf. > >The divergence in views over whether the U.S. was acting in a >unilateral way appeared to mirror the grumbling heard in some >European capitals as the United States formed a broad international >coalition against terrorism but then drew slowly on its allies' >offers of material support. > >The poll did not examine the role of, or support for, President >George W. Bush, as did an IHT/Pew Poll in August.But an earlier >finding - that 7 in 10 West Europeans felt that Mr. Bush made >decisions "entirely on U.S. interests" - was echoed in the latest >results: More than 6 in 10 West European opinion leaders said that >the United States was "acting mainly on its own interests" in the >war on terrorism; fewer than 3 in 10 Americans shared that view. > >Non-U.S. respondents were also far less sanguine than were Americans >about the potential of the recent conflict to improve long-term U.S. >relations with Russia and China, both of which offered some support >for the anti-terror war. > >While nearly two-thirds of Americans expected closer relations, only >3 in 10 East Europeans and Russians did, as did a little more than 1 >in 4 Asians. > >Because some of the surveying was conducted before the full success >of the U.S.-led military campaign became known, Mr. Kohut believes >that some of the results could be slightly less favorable to the >United States than they might be if a similar survey were taken now. > >But even with America's success, it's going to have its critics, Mr. >Kohut said. That represents the fact that the United States is >"playing the role of Rome, and the reaction, even in quarters >thought to be friendly to us, is not always so friendly." > >Copyright � 2001 The International Herald Tribune > >MainPage >http://www.rense.com ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
