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Poll finds mixed views on 9/11
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 09/11/2008 11:07 AM | World
A new international poll released Wednesday found 46 percent of respondents believed al-Qaeda was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, while 15 percent blamed the United States government and 7 percent Israel.
A poll of 17 nations by World Public Opinion, involving 16,063 respondents, was conducted between July 15 and August 31 this year. The pollster is a collaborative research project involving research centers around the world and managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.
Interviews were conducted in China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, the Palestinian Territories, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and the Ukraine.
"Given the extraordinary impact the 9/11 attacks have had on world affairs, it is remarkable that seven years later there is no international consensus about who was behind them," said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org.
Even in European countries, al-Qaeda was blamed for the attack by only a small majority of respondents. Fifty-six percent of Britons and Italians, 63 percent of French and 64 percent of Germans cited the terrorist group as the main culprit.
However, significant numbers of Britons (26 percent), French (23 percent), and Italians (21 percent) said they did not know who was behind 9/11. In Germans, 23 percent cited the U.S. government, as did 15 percent of Italians.
Respondents in Asia had mixed responses. Bare majorities in Taiwan (53 percent) and South Korea (51 percent) named al-Qaeda, but 17 percent of South Koreans pointed to the U.S. government and large numbers in both countries said they did not know (34 percent in Taiwan, 22 percent in South Korea).
Most Chinese (56 percent) and Indonesians (57 percent) said they did not know, with significant minorities naming the U.S. government (14 percent in Indonesia, 9 percent in China).
Those in the Middle East were even more likely to name a perpetrator other than al-Qaeda.
In Egypt, 43 percent said Israel was behind the attacks, as did 31 percent in Jordan and 19 percent in Palestine. The U.S. government was named by 36 percent of Turks and 27 percent of Palestinians.
Those who said al-Qaeda was behind the attacks ranged from 11 percent in Jordan to 42 percent in Palestine.
Though respondents with a higher level of education generally have greater exposure to news, they were only slightly more likely to attribute 9/11 to al-Qaeda, said Kull.
"It does not appear these beliefs can simply be attributed to a lack of exposure to information," he said.
A stronger factor in beliefs about 9/11 are respondents' opinions about the U.S.
Those with a positive view of America's influence in the world were more likely to cite al-Qaeda (59 percent on average) than those with a negative view (40 percent).
Those with a positive view of the United States were also less likely to blame the U.S. government (7 percent) than those with a negative view (22 percent).
