What Arabs Think

Some Sunday afternoon reading:

The latest poll of Arab public opinion, by Zogby International and the University of Maryland's Shibley Telhami, which covers a good range of political and social issues and is based on surveys last November in six Arab countries, is out and worth some study.
Negative views of the U.S. are still prevalent, perhaps not surprisingly: 78% said they had "very unfavorable" or "somewhat unfavorable" attitudes. Shifts in attitudes may be related to proximity to Iraq and Palestine. In Jordan, where the king is among the most pro-American of Arab leaders, his population's unfavorable rating of the U.S. is up to 90%. In Egypt it's 73% and in the United Arab Emirates it has fallen to a relative "low" of 61% (compared to 85% on the eve of the U.S.-led war in Iraq).

In a nutshell:
Egypt: favorable 13% unfavorable 73%
Jordan: favorable 5% unfavorable 90%
Lebanon: favorable 31% unfavorable 64%
Saudi Arabia: favorable 11% unfavorable 82%
UAE: favorable 35% unfavorable 61%

Among the most interesting figures, however, is that 45% said that being a Muslim was the most important part of their identity--more than the number who referred to their Arab or national identities. That's nearly double from the 2002 poll result. At www.abuaardvark.com, Marc Lynch goes so far as to say that this suggests that Al Qaeda "is succeeding at the level of spreading its basic worldview...highlighting the Islamic aspect of identity and placing that identity in confrontation with the West." That conclusion is even more sobering if you read Larry Wright's analysis on the current state of Al Qaeda, also available on Lynch's site: Bush's war in Iraq handed Al Qaeda a tremendous propaganda victory, brought it back to life after the fall of the Taliban and helped make it "stronger now than at any time since 9/11." In Wright's view--and he's written the best 9/11 book, The Looming Tower--"the prospects for long-term conflict with the U.S. and Europe are almost certain."

--by Scott MacLeod/Cairo