-Caveat Lector- washingtonpost.com
Poll Finds Arabs Dislike U.S. Based on Policies It Pursues American Freedoms, Values Viewed Favorably, Survey Says By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, October 7, 2002; Page A13 A comprehensive survey of attitudes and opinions in the Arab world has found that Arabs look favorably on American freedoms and political values, but have a strongly negative overall view of the United States based largely on their disapproval of U.S.policy toward the region. The survey's author, U.S. public opinion firm Zogby International, said that Arab views do not reflect "an anti-Western sentiment at work," and noted that France, Canada, Germany and Japan were among countries with highly favorable ratings. The United States, Britain and Israel were viewed unfavorably in all eight countries surveyed, including Kuwait, where a U.S-led international coalition drove out Iraqi occupiers during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The results appeared contrary to the basic thrust of stepped-up "public diplomacy" outreach programs that the Bush administration and Congress have promoted in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The programs rest on the premise that anti-American views in the region stem largely from lack of knowledge about U.S. values. Although the Arab world has been the subject of numerous marketing surveys, there have been few, if any, widespread inquiries into values and beliefs. Pollsters conducted face-to-face interviews last spring with 3,800 adults in Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Egypt and among Israeli Arabs. Each was asked 92 questions covering their values, political concerns, mood and outlook, self-definition and how they viewed the world. Results of the survey, sponsored by the Saudi-backed Arab Thought Foundation, were released over the weekend. Overall, Arabs reflected positively on their own situations and the future. Asked Ronald Reagan's campaign question: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" a strong plurality in most countries said yes, and believed that their children would fare better still. Asked what matters most to them, Arabs reflected the views of those in similar surveys throughout the world, focusing principally on personal matters, including quality of life and economic opportunity, family and faith. On the relative importance of values to be taught to children, they gave highest marks to self-respect, good health and hygiene and responsibility, followed by respect for elders, achievement of a better life and self-reliance. The importance of religious faith, as a personal value and in teaching children, was number one in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But in other Arab countries, including Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, it was of significantly less concern. Arab Americans, who were also surveyed for purposes of comparison, rated responsibility as the most important value for parents to teach their children, placing religion at the bottom of the list. Survey responses indicated little substantive difference when broken down by age, gender and education. In a region where national borders were largely drawn by colonial powers, respondents chose "being Arab" as a self-identifier far more often than nationality or religion in every country but Lebanon. A plurality of respondents, asked to rate 10 issues in order of political importance to them, put civil and personal rights at the top of the list. Health care was second, followed by the "rights of the Palestinian people." Interpreting these results, Zogby notes that the Palestinian issue, rather than being seen as a matter of foreign policy, "appears to have become a personal matter . . . ahead of more general concerns like moral standards or the state of their country's economy." These views appeared to play a major role in determining Arab attitudes toward the United States. A majority of respondents in Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, for example, looked favorably on what the survey described as "American freedom and democracy." Assessments of American technological abilities and culture received similarly high marks. In all four countries, however, less than 10 percent viewed U.S.-Arab policy favorably. Asked what the United States could do "to improve its relations with the Arab world," respondents focused largely on what they saw as a general unfairness toward and lack of understanding of the region, and a particular bias toward Israel in the Israeli-Arab conflict. © 2002 The Washington Post Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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