RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico, December 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Muslims around the world strongly doubt the United States is trying to establish democracy in the Middle East and many think the Iraq war has done more harm than good, a poll showed on Friday, December 9.

The Gallup poll, conducted in 10 nations that comprise 80 percent of the world's Muslim population, found an average of only 31 percent of respondents per nation believed US objectives were centered on establishing democracy, Reuters reported.

Jordanian and Egyptians were the most skeptical of US intentions with 66 and 64 percent, respectively, disagreeing with the perception.

Gallup released the results in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, at a conference sponsored by the Alliance for a New Humanity, a non-profit group that promotes social change and peace.

The countries surveyed were Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

The poll sampled about 1,000 people per country, producing a total sample size of about 10,000.

A similar poll released on December 1 showed that most Arabs doubted that spreading democracy was the real US objective.

Oil, protecting Israel, dominating the region and weakening the Muslim world were seen as US goals, according to the survey, which had been conducted by Arab volunteers, who polled 800 people in each of Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

The State Department appointed in July a special envoy, Karen Hughes, to improve the US image abroad, especially in the Arab world.

However, during her trips to the Middle East, Hughes came face to face with Muslim anger over the US-led invasion in Iraq and staunch support of Israel.

When asked how the West could improve relations with the Muslim world, "respecting Islam" was the most often offered response, said Gallup leadership consultant Dalia Mogahed.

"The thing they most admired about the West was the technology," she said.

"The second thing they most admired was political freedoms. To say that they hate us because we are free is hard to argue, because they say that they like our freedom.

"They do hate the proliferation of moral corruption in the media, such as pornography and stuff like that."

The poll showed strong support for free speech, with an average of 90 percent of the respondents per nation saying freedom of speech should be included as a guarantee in the constitution of a new country.

An average of 74 percent per country said the constitution of a new country should guarantee freedom of religion, while an average of 68 percent believed a new country should grant freedom of assembly.

Saudi Arabia did not allow the US democracy question to be asked nor did it allow questions about freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, Mogahed said.

Regarding the Iraq war, more than 85 percent of respondents in Jordan, Bangladesh, Morocco and Egypt said the invasion had done more harm than good.

On average, 76 percent of all respondents per country thought the Iraq war has had grave consequences.

Of Iranian respondents, 29 percent believed the war in Iraq had done more good than harm, the highest among all countries.

A study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) showed in September that the US-led occupation of Iraq had radicalized "almost exclusively" Saudis and helped recruit more people to Al-Qaeda.

Most were motivated by "revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country," read the study, based on Saudi intelligence reports.

The US policies in Iraq further drew a rare diatribe from Saudi Arabia whose Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal warned that the US was widening sectarian divisions and could spark a deadly civil war in the oil-rich country.

Former White House counter-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke accused US President George W. Bush of undermining the war on terror with the Iraq invasion.

And British Prime Minister Tony Blair has reluctantly acknowledged after the 7/7 attacks on London that the Iraq war was used to recruit terrorists.

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