LEARNING TO LOVE THE DISCIPLINARIANS:

Poll Finds Arabs Dislike U.S. Based on Policies It Pursues: American Freedoms, Values Viewed Favorably, Survey Says (Karen DeYoung, October 7, 2002, Washington Post)

A plurality of respondents, asked to rate 10 issues in order of political importance to them, put civil and personal rights at the top of the list. Health care was second, followed by the "rights of the Palestinian people."

Interpreting these results, Zogby notes that the Palestinian issue, rather than being seen as a matter of foreign policy, "appears to have become a personal matter . . . ahead of more general concerns like moral standards or the state of their country's economy."

These views appeared to play a major role in determining Arab attitudes toward the United States. A majority of respondents in Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, for example, looked favorably on what the survey described as "American freedom and democracy." Assessments of American technological abilities and culture received similarly high marks. In all four countries, however, less than 10 percent viewed U.S.-Arab policy favorably.

Asked what the United States could do "to improve its relations with the Arab world," respondents focused largely on what they saw as a general unfairness toward and lack of understanding of the region, and a particular bias toward Israel in the Israeli-Arab conflict.

When you cut through everything else in the survey, it appears that the Arab world dislikes but wants to be like America, Israel, and Britain. Of course, their best chance of achieving their desire comes from precisely the pressure that we're applying. It's kind of similar to when youngsters want to grow up to be like their Dads, but resent being told what to do by same.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 7, 2002 4:14 PM