Muslim doubts on extremism

By Brian Knowlton International Herald Tribune, FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2005

People in several predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia see less justification now for violence against civilians than they did a year or two ago, and they increasingly share Western concerns about Islamic extremism, a new international poll has found.
But the peculiar entanglement of religion and politics in these countries, and in Western countries with sizable Muslim minorities, produced a conflicting picture, also reflecting overwhelming Muslim dislike for Jews and powerful opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq, the polling in 17 countries shows.
The survey - conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project before the July 7 bombings in London, which are now attributed to Britons of Pakistani origin - found that the British public was among the least hostile to Muslims, along with Canadians and Americans. That tolerance is not unequivocal: At least four mosques in Britain have been set ablaze since the July 7 attacks.
Nearly four years after the Sept. 11 attacks, and with terrorist attacks continuing around the world, a growing number of Muslims say that violence against civilian targets is never justified, Pew found.

NOTE: A link to the Pew Report, "Islamic Extremism: Common Concern for Muslim and Western Publics: Support for Terror Wanes Among Muslim Publics." Released July 14, 2005.