Muslims, Europeans 'wary' of U.S.

[MIKE BURN]

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(AP) Wednesday, March 17, 2004 Posted: 1019 GMT (1819 HKT)



Muslims, Europeans 'wary' of U.S.



WASHINGTON (AP) -- A majority of people living in Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey say they believe the U.S. is conducting its campaign against terror to control Mideast oil and to dominate the world, according to an international poll.



The governments in all four Muslim-majority countries have strong ties with the U.S. government.



A sizable number of people in France, Germany and Russia also have these suspicions about the campaign against terror, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Project released Tuesday.



The polls were taken in February, before the train bombings in Spain that claimed the lives of at least 200 people.



In a surprise defeat, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's conservatives on Sunday became the first government that backed Washington in Iraq to be voted from office.



When people in the nine countries -- including Britain and the United States -- were asked if the campaign against terrorism was a sincere effort to reduce international terrorism, majorities in France, Germany and the four Muslim-majority countries felt it was not.



Almost half in Russia felt it was not, while majorities in Britain and the United States said they believe the campaign is a sincere effort to fight terrorism.



The surveys found considerable cynicism and anger among the Muslim-majority countries a year after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And they found a growing desire among European countries for a balance of power between the European Union and the United States.



"Europeans want to check our power," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. "There's considerable support for making the European Union as powerful as the United States."



Europeans in those countries are eager to set up security arrangements independent from the United States.



People in the surveyed Muslim countries remain angry about U.S. policies, and even supportive of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi terrorist who took credit for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.



Almost two-thirds of the people in Pakistan say they view bin Laden favorably -- a significant finding because U.S. troops are trying to find bin Laden in the mountainous region on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.



More than half of those in Jordan and almost half of those polled in Morocco had a favorable view of the Saudi terrorist.



Anger toward the United States in these Muslim-majority countries remains very high, Kohut said, though the intensity has dropped a bit since last May.



While seven in 10 in the United States feel their country takes into account the interests of other countries when making international policy decisions, few in the other countries shared that view.



Majorities in all the countries except Pakistan, and almost half there, felt the United States doesn't make much of an effort to consider the interests of other countries in its policy decisions.



At least two-thirds of people living in France, Germany, Russia and Turkey thought it would be a good thing if the European Union becomes as powerful as the United States. Turkey and Russia are not currently members of the European Union.



A majority of those in Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Turkey think Western Europe should take a more independent approach to security and diplomatic matters.



In other key findings:





While support for the war on terrorism has dropped in many of those countries, it has increased in Russia -- 73 percent approve -- and is almost as strong there as in the United States.





About half in Pakistan said suicide bombings carried out by Palestinians against Israelis and against U.S. troops in Iraq can be justified. Two-thirds or more in Jordan and Morocco say it can be justified in both situations.





A majority of the people in Pakistan and Jordan say Iraq will be worse off now that Saddam Hussein has been removed from power.





A solid majority of those in France, Germany, Russia, Pakistan and Jordan believe U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair lied about the weapons of mass destruction they claimed were in Iraq.





Ratings for the United Nations are relatively high in European countries, and low in the Muslim countries. Just over half in the United States, 55 percent, gave a favorable rating to the U.N.



"In America, the ratings of the U.N. are much lower than elsewhere," said Kohut, referring to the European countries. "Historically we're at a low point."



The polls were conducted between February 19 and March 3. They have margins of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points in Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey and the United States. Polls in Britain, France and Germany have a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

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[DreamTone7]

Nothing new or unexpected. What this shows more than anything else is that people are willing to swollow whatever is fed to them...and lo and behold, here in this post is just one more attempted feeding! (Albeit a regurgitated one.)



quote - "A majority of the people in Pakistan and Jordan say Iraq will be worse off now that Saddam Hussein has been removed from power."



I wonder if they would feel the same way if they had been tortured and had family members killed by Saddam. Ingnorance, prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.



*sigh*

[MIKE BURN]

The result of American "foreign policy" is a substitute clash of cultures in Europe.



Churches and Mosques started to burn this night in Europe.

[Seismic Anamoly]

Quote:

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.....and even supportive of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi terrorist who took credit for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.



Almost two-thirds of the people in Pakistan say they view bin Laden favorably -- a significant finding because U.S. troops are trying to find bin Laden in the mountainous region on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.



More than half of those in Jordan and almost half of those polled in Morocco had a favorable view of the Saudi terrorist.

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Thousands of people of ALL Nationalities die in 911 and they support it.



Speaks Volumes to me.



And So It Goes.

[LarreeMP3]

And people wonder why I feel the way I do towards these subhuman pieces of dried desert camel dung.

Click here to listen to three decades of original Larree music!

[Helge Krabye]

Larree,



You say:



"And people wonder why I feel the way I do towards these subhuman pieces of dried desert camel dung."



Is this really your honest opinion? To call other humans "subhuman pieces of dried desert camel dung."?



I am beginning to think that the problem today is not your Mr. President, but you Americans. If all you have learned from history is that it helps to discriminate and put other people down like that, I think there is no hope for your country...



Helge K.

Edited by: Helge Krabye at: 3/23/04 7:28 pm

[NRKofOver]

To all non-Americans - it's kind of the flip side of the same coin to be 'wary' of 'Americans'. Like in all countries and in all cultures, some people are problematic, not just for themselves but in the perception they create for people around the world. We have that in America, of course. But that doesn't mean that all or even anywhere near the majority are the problematic type of Americans most negative opinions are based on. Like with Larree, he has categorized an entire group(s) of the population as 'subhuman' based on the actions of a tiny minority of those groups. The same goes for Americans. The vast majority of Americans are decent hard-working people who are kind and giving and many many work hard at understanding the complexity of this screwy world. We are a society driven by our media (and that's a big reason that racism is still such a problem here) and it's important to understand that the images and perceptions we are inundated with about a culture like Islam are negative. That doesn't make it right to be ignorant, but it does give justification for the reason many Americans are seen quite poorly by many people in other parts of the world. And is it possible that the media driven elements in your own countries help to proliferate a negative or 'wary' perception of Americans?



As an American, I can understand the reasoning behind such attacks like 9/11, although I disagree with such approaches adamantly. But the old saying, 'walk a mile in my shoes', is very true for all humans. In order to understand difference, we have to attempt to put ourselves in someone else's place. As well, it's important to try and understand your own shortcoming or problems before looking around and seeing what's wrong with others (a real shortcoming fro most Americans).



I guess I'm trying to say that being 'wary' of anyone is kind of dumb. Being concerned about organizational policies and goals is something quite different. But people in general are wonderful creatures, it doesn't matter where they're from, how they were raised, what religion they believe in, what their education is, etc. etc..



People are people so why should it be, you and I should get along so awfully?

My music for the disenchanted masses

[Galmin]

Helge, I disagree.

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I am beginning to think that the problem today is not your Mr. President, but you Americans. If all you have learned from history is that it helps to discriminate and put other people down like that, I think there is no hope for your country...

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What you must understand is that:

1, Larree has a strong direct connection to what happens in Israel. He has family there.



2, He is coloured of the extremes, naturally, aswell as of the propaganda.



Thus Larree is not the prototype for the average US American.





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Even in Israel there are a lot of people who disapprove of how it's government handle the situation (Remember the troops who refused to follow orders because they didn't want to kill a lot of innocent people. Larree call them traitors, so does the Israeli government).

Had the entire German wehrmacht during and before the war been made up of soldiers with such amount of civil courage, the holocaust would never have happened!!