Tuesday
24 Apr 2007
Only 3% of Pakistanis Think Al Qaeda Behind 9/11
By Annie Jacobsen in category The Al-Qaeda Threat
The Daily Times of Pakistan reports that only three percent of Pakistanis think that Al Qaeda is responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. More than half of those polled supported attacks on US troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the Persian Gulf. Three out of ten were opposed to such attacks. The poll was conducted in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Indonesia by WorldPublicOpinion.org and took place from December '06-February '07. Here are some other results:
- 79% believe the US is trying to maintain "control over the oil resources of the Middle East."
- 64% believe it is a US goal to "spread Christianity in the region."
- 74% support the goal of getting the US to "remove its military forces from all Islamic countries."
- 3 in 10 view Osama Bin Laden positively.
Last January, the same organization released a report on the United States and Iran's perception of one another. Those findings:
People in Iran and the United States are suspicious of and unfriendly toward one another but not that far apart on nuclear policy, combating terrorism and other major issues, polling in the two countries found.
The U.S. government considers Iran, an Islamic republic, to be the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. But the polls, released Wednesday, found Iranians worried about Islamic terrorism: Almost six in 10 Iranians consider the threat of terror from extremist Islam important or critical. More than nine of 10 Americans feel that way.
Overwhelming majorities of both Americans and Iranians hold very unfavorable opinions of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, according to the polls conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.com.