Arabs deeply suspicious of US motives: poll shows
Reuters
3 December 2005
WASHINGTON — Arab nations are acutely suspicious of the Bush administration’s “democracy” agenda in the Middle East and believe the US invasion of Iraq has made the region less secure, said a poll released yesterday.
The poll, conducted in six Arab countries in October, found 78 per cent of respondents thought there was more terrorism because of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, with four out of five saying the war had brought less peace to the region.
Asked which countries posed the biggest threat to their nations, a majority chose Israel and the United States.
“The one fascinating outcome of this study is that the respondents view the United States and its policies through the prism of Iraq and Israel,” said Professor Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, who conducted the poll with Zogby International in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.
Rather than being a model to inspire Arab nations to adopt democratic goals, Telhami said respondents felt the opposite was true of the United States, whose human rights image has been tarnished by scandals involving abuse by US forces of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and at a US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Bush administration has made spreading democracy in the Middle East a centrepiece of its foreign policy. The State Department in July appointed a special envoy, Karen Hughes, to improve the US image abroad, especially in Islamic nations. However, during her trips to the Middle East, Hughes has come face to face with Muslim anger over the US-led invasion in Iraq.
In the new poll, 69 per cent of those surveyed doubted that spreading democracy was the real US objective. Oil, protecting Israel, dominating the region and weakening the Muslim world were seen as US goals.
”America’s presence in Iraq is seen as a negative. It is scaring people about American intentions and having the opposite intended impact on Arab public opinion,” Telhami told Reuters.
Asked what their biggest concerns were about Iraq, a third feared the country would split up because of sectarian divisions, while 23 per cent worried the United States would dominate the country after the transfer of power and 27 per cent fretted that instability would spill over into the region.
More than half — 58 per cent — said Iraq was less democratic than before the war and three of four said Iraqis were worse off.
Asked which countries they would like to be the superpower, the most popular choice was France with 21 per cent, followed by China with 13 per cent, Pakistan and Germany tied with 10 per cent, Britain with 7 per cent, the United States with 6 per cent and finally Russia with 5 per cent,
France, which opposed the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, was also seen as the country where people had the most freedom and its President Jacques Chirac, was the leader most admired by respondents. Others included the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The poll was taken before an outbreak of riots in France by dissatisfied youths, many of them Muslims of North African ethnicity, which provoked Muslim criticism of conditions for minorities in France. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were the most disliked by those polled.
On Iran, most of the respondents said the US adversary should have the right to a nuclear programme and international pressure should cease while 21 per cent said it should be pressured to stop its nuclear ambitions.
The most popular television network for international news was Al Jazeera, favoured by 45 per cent.
Interviewers polled 800 people each from Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia; 500 each were questioned in Jordan and Lebanon and 217 were interviewed in the UAE.
The margin of error was 3.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent in all of the countries, except for the UAE where it was plus or minus 6.8 per cent.
3 December 2005
WASHINGTON — Arab nations are acutely suspicious of the Bush administration’s “democracy” agenda in the Middle East and believe the US invasion of Iraq has made the region less secure, said a poll released yesterday.
The poll, conducted in six Arab countries in October, found 78 per cent of respondents thought there was more terrorism because of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, with four out of five saying the war had brought less peace to the region.
Asked which countries posed the biggest threat to their nations, a majority chose Israel and the United States.
“The one fascinating outcome of this study is that the respondents view the United States and its policies through the prism of Iraq and Israel,” said Professor Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, who conducted the poll with Zogby International in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.
Rather than being a model to inspire Arab nations to adopt democratic goals, Telhami said respondents felt the opposite was true of the United States, whose human rights image has been tarnished by scandals involving abuse by US forces of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and at a US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Bush administration has made spreading democracy in the Middle East a centrepiece of its foreign policy. The State Department in July appointed a special envoy, Karen Hughes, to improve the US image abroad, especially in Islamic nations. However, during her trips to the Middle East, Hughes has come face to face with Muslim anger over the US-led invasion in Iraq.
In the new poll, 69 per cent of those surveyed doubted that spreading democracy was the real US objective. Oil, protecting Israel, dominating the region and weakening the Muslim world were seen as US goals.
”America’s presence in Iraq is seen as a negative. It is scaring people about American intentions and having the opposite intended impact on Arab public opinion,” Telhami told Reuters.
Asked what their biggest concerns were about Iraq, a third feared the country would split up because of sectarian divisions, while 23 per cent worried the United States would dominate the country after the transfer of power and 27 per cent fretted that instability would spill over into the region.
More than half — 58 per cent — said Iraq was less democratic than before the war and three of four said Iraqis were worse off.
Asked which countries they would like to be the superpower, the most popular choice was France with 21 per cent, followed by China with 13 per cent, Pakistan and Germany tied with 10 per cent, Britain with 7 per cent, the United States with 6 per cent and finally Russia with 5 per cent,
France, which opposed the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, was also seen as the country where people had the most freedom and its President Jacques Chirac, was the leader most admired by respondents. Others included the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The poll was taken before an outbreak of riots in France by dissatisfied youths, many of them Muslims of North African ethnicity, which provoked Muslim criticism of conditions for minorities in France. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were the most disliked by those polled.
On Iran, most of the respondents said the US adversary should have the right to a nuclear programme and international pressure should cease while 21 per cent said it should be pressured to stop its nuclear ambitions.
The most popular television network for international news was Al Jazeera, favoured by 45 per cent.
Interviewers polled 800 people each from Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia; 500 each were questioned in Jordan and Lebanon and 217 were interviewed in the UAE.
The margin of error was 3.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent in all of the countries, except for the UAE where it was plus or minus 6.8 per cent.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 6:37 PM
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