Support for Violence Against America in the Muslim World

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terror (START), a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, has just released a research brief entitled "Perceptions of the United States and Support for Violence Against America" that surveyed 3,000 respondents from Indonesia, Pakistan, and a number of Arab countries on their perceptions and attitudes towards America. The major findings include:

1. "Attitudes and perceptions rooted in religious, rather than political, conflict are among the strongest indicators of support for attacks on American military as well as civilian targets."


2. "Negative views of the U.S. government and concerns about hegemonic domination by the U.S. correlate with support for anti-American actions, but not with support for attacks on American civilians."

This is not surprising in light of other surveys that show a significant minority of Muslims support the use of terrorist tactics against civilian targets:

• ICM/Guardian July 2005 Muslim Poll
• NOP Research Survey
• Pew Islamic Extremism Survey
• Pew Great Divide Survey

It's a no brainer that most Muslims are not terrorists. The vast majority want to live in peace. But are most terrorists or supporters of terrorism Muslims?