Blair is the “top-rated world leader”, according to the poll

WASHINGTON, June 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Two months into the invasion of Iraq, majorities of citizens in seven of eight Islamic countries surveyed in a new poll said they fear a U.S. military attack as majorities in 21 regions surveyed believed that U.S. policy favored Israel too much.

Some 74% of Indonesians, 72% of Nigerians and 72% of Pakistanis were "very worried" or "somewhat worried" about a perceived military threat from the United States, according to the poll, part of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, published in Los Angeles Times on Thursday, June 5.

“In Turkey, a longtime U.S. military ally, 71% had similar fears, as did 53% of Kuwaitis, whose government has also had a close relationship with the United States.”

In Lebanon, 58% of those polled and 56% in Jordan were found to have such fears. The only Islamic country in the poll lacking a majority who shared that opinion was Morocco, where the figure was 46%.

The survey, overseen by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, was conducted April 28 to May 15, and involved 16,000 interviews in 20 countries and parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Authority, reported the Times.

“It also indicated that, as the United States is pushing for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, there is a widespread view — even among Israelis — that the United States favors Israel too much,” the paper said.

The poll is published one day after U.S. President George W. Bush met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart in an effort to nail down a peaceful agreement to the more than half-century crisis.

“Of the 21 regions surveyed, pluralities or majorities in all but the United States believed that U.S. policy favored Israel too much.”

Among Israelis, 47% believe that the United States favors Israel too much, while 38% say the policy is fair and 11% think the United States “favors” Palestinians too much.

Real Challenge

Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Center, was quoted by the Times as saying that the 47% figure reflects the existence of a large peace movement in Israel, and that 19% of Israelis are Arab.

“Kohut said the poll shows the challenge the Bush administration faces in trying to win Islamic support for the U.S.-led rebuilding of Iraq and U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.”

He also said the results also show the difficulty of trying to convince the public in Islamic nations that the U.S. "war on terrorism" isn't a war on Islam.

"It's going to be a real challenge to turn Muslim opinion around," Kohut said.

But Gary Schmitt, executive director of the Project for the New American Century, a Washington conservative think tank, said the Bush administration can overcome much of its problem with Muslim opinion if it can "put Iraq back on its feet in a successful way.”

“That will do more for the polling than any amount of [U.S. government-produced] radio broadcasting."

With the U.S. invasion of the Arab Islamic country still fresh in memory, many Arab peoples suspected the U.S. motives for launching the invasion, which Washington said it was fully justified claiming that Iraq “possessed” weapons of mass destruction.

But nothing of such banned weapons were found so far since the U.S. forces rolled in, something that augmented anti-American feelings in the region. More than 22 American soldiers were shot dead in a spate of attacks by individual gunmen in Iraq.

Europe Should Be Independent

Schmitt said in the case of some governments it may be helpful "to have them fearful that we're not going to tolerate certain kinds of behavior."

“The survey found that 76% of the French, 57% of Germans, 62% of Spaniards and 45% of Britons believe that Europe should become more independent from the United States.”

The poll showed that European opinion of the United States bounced back somewhat between March, in the anxious prewar period, and May, after the war ended.

But that bounce left favorable opinion of the United States still markedly lower than it was in 2002 in the five European countries surveyed. Countries as France, Germany and Russia vociferously stood against the aggression against Iraq, but Washington had kept that it was ready to go to war alone.

Forty-eight percent of Britons, whose country’s forces took part in the Iraq invasion, said they had a favorable opinion of the United States before the war; the figure rose to 70% in May.

In Italy, another staunch supporter of the invasion, 34% approved of the United States in March; the share rose to 60% last month.

There was also a sharp decline in approval of the United Nations, which has been looked on as an important international institution for avoiding wars.

Over the last year, the share of Americans who considered the United Nations "a good influence" fell from 72% to 43%. Over the same period, it slid from 75% to 47% in France, 79% to 46% in Germany, and from 78% to 41% in Britain.

The invasion did not greatly change opinion about the merits of using force against Saddam Hussein's government, reported the Times.

In countries that strongly opposed the war, "people overwhelmingly believed their countries made the right decision to stay out of the conflict," the poll report said.

"In countries that backed the war, with the notable exception of Spain, [people] believe their governments made the right decision."

“British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the top-rated world leader in the U.S., according to the survey.  Among Americans, 83% said they had "a lot" or "some" confidence in Britain's Labor Party leader — President Bush's staunchest ally in the Iraq invasion— to do the right thing. Bush was second with 78%.

Blair now faces fresh battle in Britain over reports that his government “doctored” intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and undermined the House of Commons to precipitate the military action.