What Do Muslims Think Of America ?

President Obama has said very clearly that the United States does not consider the muslim religion to be an enemy -- only terrorists (some of whom are muslim fundamentalists). But the presidents words don't necessarily coincide with government actions and the actions of many other Americans. So it should come as no surprise that many in the muslim world don't have a real high opinion of America.

Why would they not love us? Aren't we the people dedicated to bringing freedom and justice to the world? Actually no. Not if our actions are viewed as a whole. I suspect the following factors have merged to give many, especially in the muslim world, an unfavorable opinion of this country.

* America is still engaged in two wars (that were started supposedly to fight terrorism, but have morphed into nation-building efforts where the U.S. uses military to force muslim countries to adopt American-style governments). The muslim world knows, as Americans are beginning to realize, that neither of these two wars were necessary to fight terrorism.

* The U.S. has been responsible for many thousands of deaths of innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (a nation we claim is a friend). Much of this is now being done by using drones. Instead of altering American policy to prevent this, The U.S. just offers to pay money to assuage its guilt.

* The U.S. has imprisoned hundreds of muslims at Guantanamo Bay, and has held many of them for years without any charges. They have also tortured muslim prisoners at Guantanamo, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan.

* American foreign policy in the muslim world is largely guided by a thirst for their oil.

* American reaction to muslim dictatorships has not been universal, and has differed greatly from country to country. The U.S. invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. bombed Libya. The U.S. has imposed embargoes on Iran and Syria. The U.S. offered only moral support to Egypt and Tunisia. And the U.S. has done nothing at all about Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Bahrain. With such a varied reaction, how can those in the muslim world understand what American policy really is (if there is one at all).

* Neither the Bush or Obama administrations have put any real pressure on Israel to negotiate a peaceful solution to the question of Palestine. The U.S. has also allowed Israel to turn the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into ghettos where they try to starve the Palestinians into submission. And the U.S. continues to allow Israel to steal Palestinian land by building new settlements on that land (which they have no intention of ever returning).

* There is a large and virulent strain of anti-muslim sentiment in America, where crowds try to burn the Quran and keep mosques from being constructed and a congressional committee that claims to be investigating terrorism only investigates muslims (while more terroristic threats and actions have come from non-muslims).

Is it any wonder that many in the muslim world cannot bring themselves to approve of America and its policies? While the words of some of our leaders offer friendship and support, the actions of our government and many of its citizens show just the opposite. At best our efforts are chaotic and at worst are anti-muslim.

The Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project recently did a survey in several muslim countries. Only two of those countries showed significant approval of the United States (and those two countries only had around 50% approval and it's dropping). NOTE -- these surveys were completed before bin Laden was killed so that has no effect in them. Here are the results (for the last three years):

APPROVAL OF THE UNITED STATES

JORDAN
2011...............13%
2010...............21%
2009...............25%
TURKEY
2011...............10%
2010...............17%
2009...............14%
PAKISTAN
2011...............11%
2010...............17%
2009...............16%
INDONESIA
2011...............54%
2010...............59%
2009...............63%
LEBANON
2011...............49%
2010...............52%
2009...............55%
EGYPT
2011...............20%
2010...............17%
2009...............27%
PALESTINIAN TER.
2011...............18%
2010...............**
2009...............15%

The disenchantment with the United States (and other Western nations) has some muslims approving now of some fundamentalist groups -- groups the U.S. generally considers to be terrorist in nature (although Hamas and Hezbollah do fund efforts to feed, clothe, and provide medical care to people inareas they control). Here are those numbers:

APPROVAL OF EXTREMIST GROUPS

JORDAN
Hamas...............47%
Hezbollah................36%
al-Queda...............15%
EGYPT
Hamas...............45%
Hezbollah...............24%
al-Queda...............21%
PALESTINIAN TER.
Hamas...............42%
Hezbollah...............61%
al-Queda...............28%
LEBANON
Hamas................34%
Hezbollah...............38%
al-Queda...............3%
INDONESIA
Hamas...............33%
Hezbollah...............37%
al-Queda...............21%
PAKISTAN
Hamas...............13%
Hezbollah...............14%
al-Queda...............**
TURKEY
Hamas...............10%
Hezbollah................5%
al-Queda...............4%

And then there is the view of U.S. policy as not caring about the people in these countries. The following numbers are the percentage of the population that thinks the United States doesn't consider their country's interests:

U.S. DOESN'T CONSIDER OUR INTERESTS
Indonesia...............49%
Lebanon...............76%
Jordan...............76%
Egypt................77%
Pakistan...............60%
Turkey...............73%

WORRY THAT THE U.S. COULD BE A MILITARY THREAT
Palestinian Ter................91%
Indonesia...............71%
Pakistan...............67%
Turkey...............59%
Lebanon...............59%
Egypt...............54%
Jordan...............46%

It looks like the United States has a lot of fence-mending to do in the muslim world if it really want to be friends with those people (and not just with their dictatorial leaders). They don't trust the U.S. and are afraid of it. Frankly, I don't blame them for those feelings since we seem to be going out of our way to earn them.