DAR AL ISLAM: "WE AGREE WITH AL QUEADA'S GOALS, JUST NOT HOW TO ACCOMPLISH THEM"

Most Muslims agree with al-Qaeda's goals: Poll

Washington, April 24: Most Muslims want US military forces out of the Middle East and Islamic countries and many agree with al-Qaeda's goals, if not its tactics, suggested a public opinion poll conducted in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Indonesia.

"Most respondents have mixed feelings about al-Qaeda," said a statement of the study's findings, conducted by the Washington-based nonprofit group WorldPublicOpinion.org and the University of Maryland.

"Large majorities agree with many of its goals, but believe that terrorist attacks on civilians are contrary to Islam."

An average of 74 per cent of all those polled agreed with the goal of pushing the US to remove its bases and military forces from all Islamic countries," said the poll.

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These must all be "moderate" moslems...Now that we know how many there really are perhaps the intelligenstia will stop bloviating about how the majority of moslems are "moderate"...


Ohhh and this is how an American newspaper reports the same poll:

Muslims believe goal to weaken Islam - poll

NEW YORK: More than 70 per cent of Egyptians, Pakistanis, Indonesians and Moroccans believe the United States is trying to weaken and divide the Islamic world, a new poll showed.
The survey by http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/ also showed more than 40 per cent thought that was the primary goal of the US-led war on terrorism, while only 12 per cent believed Washington's aim was to protect the United States from attack.

"While US leaders may frame the conflict as a war on terrorism, people in the Islamic world clearly perceive the US as being at war with Islam," Steven Kull, editor at the Washington-based group, said in a statement.

The face-to-face survey, of between 1000 and 1200 people in each country from December to February, also found about 30 per cent approved of attacks on US military in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf.
But 60 per cent said suicide bombings were never justified and 67 per cent believed Islam was opposed to attacks against civilians.

"Attitudes toward al Qaida are complex. On average, only three in ten view Osama bin Laden positively. Many respondents express mixed feelings about bin Laden and his followers and many others decline to answer," WorldPublicOpinion.org said.

More than half believed al Qaida's goals included achieving a strict application of Sharia law in every Islamic country, with more than 70 per cent agreeing with that aim.

More than 50 per cent believed the militant Islamist group was pushing the United States to remove its bases and military forces from all Islamic countries and 63 per cent agreed with that goal.

But the poll found uncertainty about whether al Qaida was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. Some 20 per cent believed the US government was behind the attacks.

"On average less than one in four believes al Qaida was responsible for September 11th attacks. Pakistanis are the most skeptical – only 3 per cent think al Qaida did it," said WorldPublicOpinion.org.

"There is no consensus about who is responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington; the most common answer is `don't know'."

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Pertinent Links:

1) Most Muslims agree with al-Qaeda's goals: Poll

2) Muslims believe goal to weaken Islam - poll